Dragon Ball Gine
by Exists In Theory
Summary: AU: What if Gine, Goku's mother, went to Earth with him when he was a baby? How will one decision at the very beginning of the story ripple throughout the universe of Dragon Ball?
1. PROLOGUE: ESCAPE FROM PLANET VEGETA

**Hello to all my followers! It's been awhile since I published my last fic, and this one in particular has been driving me nuts enough to try and figure out how it could work. After working it all out from the beginning of Dragonball all the way to the end of Z in my head and watching the series again, I had to put it in writting. And thus, my first Dragonball Z fanfic.**

 **This is based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but this story is a retcon of that, with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had this previously unknown character still lived. How will the story of Dragonball go down, with Goku's mother, Gine, having somehow survived the destruction of the Saiyan race, and escaped to Earth with him? **

**Let's find out! And I hope you enjoy it.**

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all own by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.**

 **Please support the official release!**

 **Also, read and review!**

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PROLOGUE: ESCAPE FROM PLANET VEGETA

The mess hall was extremely busy today. Gine chopped slab after slab of meat in the kitchen, trying to keep pace and not get too overheated in the cramped area. The main dining room was packed with Saiyan planetary purging crews. They were all either laughing, shouting, fighting, or drinking; creating a cacophony of sound that drowned out her own thoughts. The heat of so many sweaty bodies together in conjunction with the already thick hot air was making the mess hall more unbearable to be in by the minute.

Everyone had just returned from their offworld missions, on Frieza's orders for all Saiyans to return to planet Vegeta. No one knew why, and it was certainly the buzz in the air among everybody. Rumors ranging from one big job to be announced or a great reward for all they've done, but also complaints about how they've all been pulled from their conquests. There wasn't much that Saiyans hated aside from being denied a great fight or losing one, but they were not going to question Frieza's orders. No one in their right mind did.

Gine was in the middle of slicing another giant beast leg when someone shoved past her. She dropped the cleaver and it almost cut a finger off had it landed an inch or so closer. Angry, she wheeled around trying to see the head butcher rushing away and past the other kitchen staff. She didn't remember his name as this was her newest job out of many recently, but it had to be him.

"Hey, watch it!" Gine called out to him.

He turned to look back at her. "What's the matter, weakling? Did I push you too hard?" He said mockingly.

Now Gine was more than angry. She was used to that kind of slander against her strength as a Saiyan, but she wouldn't stand for being mistreated for following basic workplace safety.

"You almost made me lose a finger!" She yelled, holding up the cleaver and the digit it nearly severed.

Almost immediately she regretted speaking up when he rushed back toward her and stopped just in front of her face. "Oh yeah? Well what are you gonna do about it?" He said as intimidating as he can. The other kitchen staff stared at them awaiting her response.

Gine shrunk where she stood, willing herself not to show how humiliated she felt. She had experienced this kind of game far too often throughout her life. Being pushed around by other Saiyans for no other reason than being a particularly sorry excuse of a Saiyan. Being goaded into a fight that she would surely lose, be laughed at and forgotten about. Rinse and repeat.

She had it happen far too many times to count, but had never gotten fully numb to it either way. The butcher was no exception, as he reveled in causing her trouble for the fun of it. He had nothing better to do than run a kitchen, for like her he could never return to the front lines but she suspected he wanted to feel better about himself if someone was weaker than him as subordinates. That still didn't make it feel any more bearable, but where else could she get work?

The butcher smiled smugly. "Thought not, pathetic!" He said, before turning around and marching off as if nothing happened. The rest of the staff went back to work also pretending they didn't see anything, but she could see some of them snickering at her.

"Assholes." Gine cursed under her breath as she went back to chopping again. She briefly fantasized that the piece of meat she was slicing was the butcher's face, and drove the clever through it as hard as she could. That was never going to happen, but it was the only comforting thing she could think of.

"GINE!"

She stopped chopping and looked up, her foul mood immediately evaporated. Through the bombardment of sounds in the mess hall, Gine knew that voice anywhere. Her kind eyes, kinder than any Saiyan eyes should look, lit up in surprise and excitement when she saw who that voice belonged to.

Ecstatic for reprieve from working in this hellhole and seeing her partner, Gine placed the clever down and ran her way through the crowd. Weaving her way around burly and rude customers towards the only particular Saiyan who's hair resembled a palm tree. A dashing crisscrossed scar ran across his cheek.

"Hey!" She greeted Bardock with a smile, and hugged him tightly. He hugged her back too, which she thought was interesting since he was always somewhat distant even in their most intimate of moments. But she enjoyed it immensely, it's been months since she's seen him.

"I didn't think I'd see you for awhile, even with this recall that's going on." She said as they held each other.

When they parted Gine looked up at him, and her expression fell into one of concern. He just starred at her, and through her as if he didn't notice that she was talking to him. The look in his eyes made him seem haunted, and his gaze fell on her longingly and, if she could believe it, saddened. It was as if he had saw something horrible.

"What's wrong?" She asked worriedly, resting her hands on his bare shoulders reassuringly.

Bardock snapped out of his trance, and looked at her.

"How's-." He began to say, but the sound of glass shattering made him stop and jerk toward the sound on reflex. The commotion in the mess hall was going up a couple notches. The rowdy customers crowding the mess hall started bumping into them and cut off Bardock from speaking further.

Gine groaned from the noisy fumbling of drunken crews and decided to take their reunion outside. "Come with me!" Gine said as she took Bardock by the hand and forced their way through the crowd of the mess hall; out the entrance and into the open.

On the streets, the capital city of planet Vegeta was bustling with activity. It had been a very long time since the entire Saiyan population was back on the planet at once. Thousands of people were out and about; walking by and conversing with old long-lost comrades or picking fights with strangers, but out here at least Gine and Bardock could hear each other. The intense heat of the red giant that was planet Vegeta's parent star bore down on them in the late afternoon. Way up in the sky, faintly visible, was Frieza's command ship in orbit. While she and Bardock stood there out in the open, he looked up at Frieza's ship for a very long moment with a mixture of emotions she couldn't read on him.

"Bardock." She got his attention again, his behavior starting to really worry her.

"What's wrong?"

He looked at her more focused this time. "Uh...Gine, how is Kakarot?"

"Kakarot?" Gine asked in surprise.

Saiyan fathers rarely if ever asked their mates about the well being of their offspring after they were born, let alone second borns of low class warriors who were pathetically weak. As was the aformentioned child he was asking after. Much like herself, even as a firstborn she never knew who her father was.

Yet it seemed like something else was bothering Bardock.

"Uh, he's been doing great." Gine answered, confused by his question. "He's out of the incubator now and almost ready to be sent on his first infiltration mission if the recall is lifted."

"That's good." He answered. Then said, "Can I see him?"

"Huh?" Now Gine was really taken aback. This was very unsaiyan-like, for a father wanting to see his child.

Usually once Saiyans mate they went their seperate ways, but she and Bardock were something different. They were one of the few Saiyans to have actually formed an emotional bond through their physical coupling. But still, children were of no importance once they were concieved, especially weak ones, which were usually dissowned. But not her, for Gine was far too empathic to be like any average Saiyan mother. Sure it made her an outcast of their society to be so emotionally soft, but she loved her two boys regardless.

"Why do you want to see him?" She asked of him suspiciously, "Are you gonna tell me what's going on first?"

"Just let me see him, ok?" He asked impatiently, "I just need to. There is something I do need to tell you, but first, I need to see Kakarot. Can you take me to him?"

Gine was now REALLY worried. She knew Bardock was as nonchalant as a Saiyan could be, no matter how bad things could get. She had seen him in battle, and even if it seemed like they were going to be killed, he kept on going as if it were buisness as usual. He only showed an ounce of concern if he ever saw her hurt, which was touching if she could make someone as steely as Bardock open up somehow. Seeing him now almost begging her to see his son, and admitting he had something to tell her, made her feel more than uneasy.

"O-Okay, come with me then." She complied. Whether what he had to say was bad or not, it always made her happy to go see her son.

Hoping her coworkers and boss wouldn't mind her absence for a bit, she led him through the streets of the capital city. The crowds here were very combative. She had to dodge in between streetfights between just two warriors to all out brawls that were breaking out. With so many Saiyans in one place, fights were bound to happen out here, but they had no time to join in on the fun.

After threading their way through what would turn into a riot, Gine and Bardock reached the main medical complex. All the doctors and emergency personnel were out dealing with the violence breaking out on the streets. The populace was getting antsy.

Making their way through the maze of corridors to the nursery, Bardock was glad that there wasn't anybody around to see them.

"Here." Gine said as they reached the correct door. They could already hear who they came to see crying from inside.

Once the door opened, they saw Kakarot in his drained incubator, bawling his eyes out. He had quite a set of lungs, for his cry was almost ear-piercing which made Gine and Bardock wince. He even made the babies next to him start to cry too.

She felt bad for leaving him all alone in this place, even though the nursery had security systems and the robotic incubator could attend to his every need. But hearing him crying from being alone without her always tore Gine's heart open.

"Hey, you." Gine said lovingly to him.

When she approached him, Kakarot immediately started to calm down, his sobs turning to whimpers and finally thankful cooing when picked up by the loving hands of his mother. She too felt all her fear and worries disappear when she held the most precious thing to her safely in her embrace.

She was amazed Kakarot had been able to get a mission in the first place. He was born with a battle power of two, a power so low that he would not have made it past the incubation process alone. Being injected with vaccines for every known disease in the galaxy AND having programs to kill all intelligent life on whatever planet they landed on implanted in their brains, it really takes a toll on an infant. Raditz barely made it through his incubation after he was born, and he was far stronger than his younger brother.

Gine figured Kakarot must have inherited his curse of weakness from her. She never had the Saiyan fighting spirit and thus was never fit to be a warrior, let alone have the dignity of being called a Saiyan for being so weak physically and emotionally. She did what she could to support the Saiyans crews by working in meat processing, but she knew that everyone thought of her as a disgrace to their species. Even Bardock thought so out loud sometimes. But he saw something in her that went beyond what a scouter said, something that really felt like there was someone in this universe for her. She treasured that. And from it, they spawned two sons. But Bardock still felt that they had been cursed by her weakness, especially for his youngest.

Yet, here he was, wanting to see him. Maybe there was something special about her boy afterall.

"Well..." Gine turned towards Bardock with baby Kakarot in her arms. "Here he is." She said with joy in her voice as she held out Kakarot to him.

Bardock took hold of him and looked at him intently. He was already a few months old and growing fast, and he looked so much like him. He had his untamable hair, sharp nose and cheekbones. But much to his dismay, he had his mother's eyes. The face of a revoltingly gentle soul that resembled nothing like the thoroughbred warrior-to-be that his eldest son had. And yet, there was something very special about him that Bardock knew he had. Something that could change the world as they knew it, something he had seen in his visions. But he didn't know what...

Kakarot started to whimper from his father's rough touch. He tried to calm him down by holding him as gently as he could and sooth him as Gine did, but was too late as Kakarot started crying again.

Bardock sighed in defeat and handed him back to Gine.

"You're not too good with kids." She chuckled.

"Hn" was all Bardock said. He never took his gaze off of Kakarot, almost mesmorized, his thoughts turning the visions he had of someone who looked just like him.

"You know, I'm really glad you wanted to see him." Gine said. "Its not often a Saiyan father would ever want to see his children out of paternal feelings."

He looked back up at her, her words not what he was really thinking.

"Now," Gine said, her expression turning serious. "Are you finally going to tell me what's really going on with you?"

Bardock hesitated for a moment, he wasn't sure how she would react, but he had to say it.

"Right." He looked back out into the corridor to make sure there was no one around. They couldn't talk where they were as the nursery had monitoring devices. He couldn't take that chance.

He spotted an empty office around the corner. It would have to do.

He waved Gine inside while she still craddled baby Kakarot in her arms. Once he made sure they were alone, he locked the door. Bardock then suddenly proceeded to smash the computers and any other electronic devices he sees. They may not have been monitoring them, but he won't take that chance either.

Gine stepped back frightened from Bardock destroying the room. "What was that for?!" She demanded, covering Kakarot protectively.

Bardock didn't answer. Whatever he had to tell could not be good to make him do all this. Once he was done with the last monitor, he made one last look outside to make sure they were alone. They were.

Feeling they were safe enough, he straightened and looked her in the eye.

"Frieza is going to destroy our planet and kill us all."

"What?!" Gine exclaimed.

Bardock pressed an open hand to her mouth to shosh her. "Keep your damn voice down!" He hissed.

He looked at the door to sense if anyone was nearby listening in and circled back to Gine, letting go of her mouth.

"What do you mean Frieza is going to destroy us?!" She said quietly while still processing what he said in shock.

"Do you remember that injury I suffered on planet Kanassa?" Bardock asked.

Gine was confused by his tangent of a question. She did indeed remember that day, worried he was almost killed by one inhabitant still alive on that planet. He came out unscathed, but since then he was always distracted and complaining of headaches and nightmares. She didn't know what to make of it then.

"Yeah, I remember that." She said. "But what does that have to do with-"

"Something else happened to me on that day." Bardock cut her off, trying to explain.

"I know you may not believe me, but the last Kanassian that attacked me did something to me. Said it was some sort of curse he wished to inflict on the Saiyans as a whole for killing his people." He spat in disgust at that, then continued.

"I'm not entirely sure myself, but I think he gave me some sort of psychic ability to see the future."

"See the future?" Gine said, her eyes widening.

"That's whats been giving me all these headaches and nightmares recently. It's visions I keep seeing of planet Vegeta exploding. And in those visions, I saw Frieza do it, launching some sort of attack that will make our planet explode. And he was laughing the whole time." Bardock said with anger laced in his voice.

Gine was at a loss for words.

"I don't know if it's real or not, but the visions kept on getting more and more clear, seeing more details, and the pain of all of us dying felt so real. And finally seeing exactly how Frieza does it. I think it's going to happen soon, as the moment of that event gets closer I feel more and more like its becomeing true." He said to her.

"That's why he's recalled all of us back to planet Vegeta, and ordered no more launches from here. He intends to wipe us all out at once." He said with certainty.

Gine felt her legs go numb, she couldn't believe it.

"But...why?" Gine asked incredulously, trying not to yell. "Why would he do such a thing?! We've been his most loyal soldiers!"

Kakarot started crying, feeling the fear and anger rising from his parents. Gine tried to rock him but it did no good, too focused on Bardock and her gripping Kakarot too overprotectively tight.

"I don't know." He answered earnestly. "I've been asking myself that same question this whole time. But I do know that I have a gut feeling that something terrible is about to happen, and these visions seem to be confirming that."

Gine couldn't believe what she was hearing. She couldn't.

But as distant and cold as Bardock could be, she trusted him with her life and the lives of her children. And to hear such a revelation come from him...

"I know you don't believe me..." He said, as if he were reading her mind. "But I swear to you it's the truth."

Gine felt as if the ground beneath her might give out. She almost wished it could.

"C-Can't we do anything about it? Warn others or something?" She tried to think of some solution. Something, anything.

Bardock looked genuinely surprised at her, "You believe me?"

"I believe you..." She said, trembling. "But I don't want to."

There was a flash of appreciation in his eyes before it was replaced with indifference again.

"I tried to tell everyone I could." He said, remembering her question a moment ago. "No one believes me. Not even the king. The king of all people!"

He sounded so incredulous and defeated. "And I think it may not help if anybody does believe me anyway. If Frieza learns that we know he's going to destroy us and we try to fight back or flee, he might kill us all now to prevent that."

Gine was speechless, he was right. None of those ideas would work. Frieza was far too powerful to take on, even if they hurled the might of the entire population of the planet against him. And his forces could shoot down any evacuation they tried.

"So it's true..." Her voice cracking.

In the span of a few minutes, her whole world came crashing down now knowing that they were all going to die very soon.

"This can't be happening..." She said, trembling in fear and despair, tears starting to form. She unconsciously clutched Kakarot closer to her chest. He started crying, sensing what she felt.

Kakarot. The very idea that her little baby boy was going to die, along with her, made her feel physically ill in a way she couldn't even put into words. She wanted all this to just be a bad dream, trying desperately to think that this wasn't happening and she would wake up at any moment. But it wasn't.

Bardock grabbed her shoulders.

"Gine, calm down, okay? We need to get Kakarot off this planet." Bardock said, breaking Gine from her despairing thoughts.

"Huh?" She asked, then remembered what he said. "H-How?"

"I have a plan." He said, trying to keep his voice down. "If we can steal an infiltration pod from the launch facility, and send it off from the far side of Vegeta, away from Frieza, then we might just be able to sneak him away from here before Frieza destroys the planet."

Gine thought of this, then doubts started coming to her. "But, wouldn't they detect him? Frieza placed a no-launch order on all purging flights. Including infiltration babies."

Bardock glanced down at his son, who was looking at at him and his mother in fear, as if he could sense them deciding his fate.

"I don't think they will. He has such a weak power level that I don't think it will register on their scouters unless they were actively searching for him."

He almost chuckled to himself. Before, he wanted nothing to do with his son, wondering what he had done to spawn such a waste of breath kid. But now, after knowing his kind will face extinction, his son's nonexistant power may be his saving grace.

"And...in a lot of the visions I had, I saw Kakarot too. I saw him all grown up."

Gine was momentarily taken aback, intrigued that her second born could have such an effect on his father.

"I don't know why, but something tells me that his survival is critical. That it may have something to do with this..." Bardock said, his thoughts drifting off as looked at his son in question. "...and if my visions are true, then Kakarot will survive. He must!"

"You sure that will work?" Gine asked, desperate.

Bardock looked up at her. He wasn't one-hundred percent sure himself, but they had no other options.

"It may be our only chance to save him." He said to her with such conviction.

Gine looked down at baby Kakarot in her embrace. She almost wanted to start crying. They were going to send him off so soon, to escape certain death out into the unknown, and it frightened her. She'll never get to see him again, or worse if they detect his pod, they will kill him.

They will kill him. Those words ringing in her mind. She couldn't stomach that, the precious life in her arms taken from this world not even a year old. She wanted to scream.

But, still, she trusted Bardock. Hell, she even loved him. And she trusted him to do what he knew was right. It may be risky, but if she wanted her baby to have any chance at life, and if he could see him in the future as he claimed...

"Okay." She said, braving her fears.

"Good." Bardock hugged her in relief. Through the overwhelming despair she was surprised by his show of affection. He seemed to have changed dramatically.

"Alright, we have no time to loose. Meet me tonight at the old ruins out in the wastelands. Sneak Kakarot out of here and I'll have an attack ball there by then."

He started for the door. Then Gine realized something.

"What about Raditz? Or us?" She called out to him.

Bardock stopped and turned to her. He thought for a long moment as if he was unsure.

"Let's focus on saving Kakarot first, then we'll see what we can do." He turned and left without saying another word.

Gine just stood where was for a long time, the weight of the situation sinking in. From just getting from work to there, her life had now changed forever. Or at least what little time would be left of it.

Kakarot started to flail in her arms, getting her attention. Then, she remembeered what she had to too.

"It's okay, sweetie." She soothed to him as she set him down. She then started the task of trying to smuggle her own son out this building.

No one may know what they were up to, but she couldn't let anyone see her take her son home without authorization. He was never meant to be sent home, just sent on his mission. So she had to be careful.

She rummaged through the room to get a cloth to cover him up in a bundle. Once she found something she could use to hide him, she ran out of the medical complex. Once outside, she weaved her way through the crowds to her home, not far from work. Kakarot was crying from all the commotion. Gine momentarily panicked thinking his crying would arouse the suspicion of bystanders.

Thankfully they didn't as everyone was too busy rioting, drowning out his crying. Gine finally reached her home. A small dwelling she shared with some coworkers who were still on duty. She set Kakarot down and went through all of her belongings and food storages to get all the supplies she would need to cross the wasteland to where they had to meet.

She pushed whatever lingering thoughts she had about her life and that of Bardock and Raditz. Right now, she had to stay calm and focus on the family in front of her she could save.

* * *

Later that night, Gine was flying just a few meters off the ground at high speed towards the other side of the world. She was slightly panicking since she took so long to get out of the capital. But she had to be stealthy if Frieza had any planet-side patrols to keep the Saiyans from wondering off or escaping.

It had been a long flight out into the wastelands. Even while flying as fast as she could, Vegeta was a large planet with alot of ground to cover. She brought Kakarot in a sling to carry him while flying with whatever food or water they would need to cross this inhospitable stretch of the globe.

In the distance, she spotted the sprawling ruins of the ancient villages that Saiyans used to inhabit so long ago. Mud huts constructed by the first Saiyans who survived their journey from the stars, to survive the war against the Tuffles. Now, the dwellings laid long forgotten.

There! She spotted a lone spherical attack ball in the village center where Bardock was waiting for her.

She landed in front of him, out of breath from the exertion of ki and adrenaline of knowing these may be her homeworld's last moments.

"You're late." Bardock said urgently with a twinge of annoyance.

"I know." Gine said between gulps of breath. "Wasn't sure if I'd stumble across someone looking for us...Plus it's been awhile since I had to fly that fast."

"Right. Forgot you were still too weak to get anywhere in a hurry." He said.

She was slightly hurt that he still thought less of her due to how pathetic her strength was. But she pushed that aside, there were bigger things happening now.

"Well, is it ready for him?" She gestured towards the pod.

"Almost." He said, walking with her towards the open hatch on the front, a holographic screen hovered over the spacecraft's main seat.

"It was already programmed with a planet for Kakarot." He said, then typed in a few more commands, then the screen showed readouts and coordinates blurring.

"I did not want to send him there in case they went searching for his pod, if they go by this partular one leaving to it's preprogrammed coordinates." He tapped on the screen again, a map of certain star systems for infiltration being displayed.

"So I've been searching other parts of the galaxy to send him to. Somewhere Frieza's forces haven't conquered yet or have no interest in." He tapped the screen again, more sectors popping up but none of them were to Bardock's liking.

Gine looked at the starmaps. They all formed grids within the four quadrants of the spiral galaxy, most of them highlighted in the lower half that marked the extent of the Planet Trade Organization. The fringes of the highlighted areas and blank ones marked where Frieza's forces were focusing on in their conquest or have already taken. All of them were frontline worlds, and he would be found immediately so those were out of the equation. They had to search farther and farther, but there weren't that many to count on even as they zoomed out.

Even from the most isolated systems at very edge of the galaxy to the core were no good. They have been extensively mapped and were under consideration by the PTO and Frieza to see if they are worth taking in order to consolidate the imperial borders. If Kakarot was there, they will certainly detect him, and kill him if Frieza was that intent on wiping out all of the Saiyans.

Gine then noticed an area on the edge of the map, and pointed.

"Have you tried the Northern Quadrant?" Gine suggested.

"That's uncharted territory." Bardock pointed out.

"Yeah, but that's alot of empty space to look for a single Saiyan baby." She said, trying to sell her point.

That was true, but there was no telling what was out there. The other side of the galaxy was not very well explored, with frontier planets full of surprises that a Saiyan would not want to find themselves in. From dead rocks to poisonuous jungle planets that could devour anything, or maybe even a whole other empire hiding in the unknown region that could challenge Frieza. But, given the circumstances, it may be the best place to send Kakarot if they never want him to be found.

"Alright." Bardock said. He zoomed in on a random corner of the fringe of known systems bordering the dark regions that marked unknown space, and scrolled farther from there.

"No...no...no..." Gine sorted them out, looking for a suitable-

"That one!" She pointed to one planet in particular. Bardock clicked on it, a short file opened up.

Based on what little intel they had on it, the planet was a small terrestrial world that orbited a yellow star. It literally bordered the edge of scanned systems for there was nothing north of it added on the map. As far as they could tell it had no vast quantities of resources to exploit or capacity to aid Frieza's empire, so there should be no for him to want to acquire it. If anything the planet was nothing of interest at all, a perfect kind of place to disappear.

Most of the planet's surface was covered in oceans of salt water, and it's landmasses were a mixture of deserts, rainforests, jungles, mountains, and ice caps. It had very moderate temperatures so it should be rather pleasant. It had a substantial and diverse ecosystem of primitive lifeforms, plenty to feed Kakarot. Among a multitude of sentient species that evolved on it, only one seemed to be the dominant and somewhat intelligent kind there. A bipedal anthropomorphic type that seemed very similar to Saiyans. They called themselves 'humans'. And based on data that was collected almost two centuries prior, they had not yet developed space travel nor advanced weaponry. They were also extremely weak, save for a few individuals that barely made it to a hundred or more in terms of battle power. The planet even had a moon, which would make purging it much easier for Kakarot. Plus, it was a very pretty shade of blue.

"It's perfect." She said, after reading aloud all the info on it to Bardock. He had to admit, it was a rather pathetic backwater world in an unknown corner of the galaxy. Frieza would have no interest in tearing that region apart just to find him.

"Alright then, to there it is." He said as he selected the coordinates for that planet into the pod's navigation computer, and selected a landing site that would be far from any populated areas of these 'humans'.

"All set now." Bardock said as he got up.

"Where's Raditz?" Gine asked, her maternal instincts kicking in when she decided to bring up that her eldest child was still missing.

"I'm not sure." Bardock answered. "I sent a message to him letting him know about Kakarot's departure, but couldn't risk telling him everything if Frieza was listening in. But I haven't seen or heard from him in awhile anyways. Last I heard he was placed on Prince Vegeta's crew. He may be with him or somewhere else on the planet."

A cold pit opened in Gine's stomach. He couldn't find their other son while just about to launch their youngest?!

"Should we at least go look for him?!" Gine screamed at him. Panic and anger rising in her voice.

"We don't have time for that! Frieza could blow this planet up any minute now, and if we try to look for him, we'll all die. Let's at least save Kakarot first while we can!"

She tried to protest but knew he was right, no matter how powerful her motherly love for her other child was. The planet was far too big to search for him in such a short time, and if they die looking then they would have wasted a chance to save at least one of their children. For all they know, if Frieza was truly intent on killing all Saiyans, Raditz may be dead already.

It felt like Gine's heart might stop at that notion. But she couldn't ignore the reality that was happening right now. No matter how horrible this was.

No, as wrong as this was, they had no choice.

Slowly, sighing in crushing defeat, Gine held up Kakarot, taking a good long look at him.

"Well..." She started to say, but could barely finish what she was saying as her hands started shaking with Kakarot in them.

"...I guess this is goodbye, Kakarot." Her voice broke, choking on tears that threatened to fall. This may be the last time she would see any of her children alive.

Kakarot could sense his mother's sadness and started to cry as well.

"Gine, hurry up!" Bardock said impatiently, "We can't wait any longer."

Gine looked up at Bardock and back at her son. He was right, this had to be done. She collected herself and placed Kakarot inside the pod. Now he was really distressed, as if sensing he was about to be sent away from his parents for good into the darkness of space.

Seeing her son in that pod by himself so scared and knowing what was about to happen, something within her shattered. This all couldn't be happening. This wasn't fair!

"Calm down, Kakarot, you are going to be just fine." Bardock tried to reassure his son, but his words had no effect. He gruffed somewhat in disgust that he kept crying.

"Alright, close it." He commanded.

Gine's hand hovered over the button to shut the pod door. She tried to summon the will power to press it, but she couldn't do it.

"Are you sure we all can't just run away together?" Gine asked, hoping that Bardock may have overlooked some detail to not make her do this. She trusted him no matter what, even if he claimed to have precognition. But she still hoped against hope that he could be wrong somehow.

"It's too risky." Bardock said. "They would definitely detect my power on their scouters and shoot us down for sure. He'll have to go alone."

Gine looked down at Kakarot. His cries were now cries of terror. Even though he was just an infant, he knew what was going to happen. His parents were going to die, and he was going to be all alone forever. He was so frightened. Gine almost broke down in tears just standing there, seeing how scared her baby boy was. And she thought of the fate that would await him, something she and Bardock hadn't quite fully comprehended yet.

"Close the pod door!" Bardock shouted, but she wasn't listening.

Saiyan babies who were sent on infiltration missions were usually retrieved someday to be reconditioned, and to continue fighting for Frieza. She remebered when Raditz was sent on his first mission as a baby, he came back after a few years purging the planet he was sent to. She barely recognized him, and he didn't recognize her at all since he had been by himself on a killing spree for so long. He almost tried to kill her and anyone that came near him since he was so uncontrollable; but the doctors were able to sedate him and reprogram his mind to fit back into Saiyan society. He regained his sanity and became a proper warrior instead of some kill-crazy lunatic. The torment he must have gone through broke her heart, but she was so proud of him that he made it through it all and came out stronger.

But now, with Frieza out to kill all Saiyans, he might try to track Kakarot down. Even if he never did find him, Kakarot would have no one to report back to. Nor will he have someone to pick him up.

Kakarot would be stranded on that frontier planet once he's destroyed all native life on it. He won't have either of his parents or his brother to look after him, or even any humans to talk to or keep as pets. It's possible that he may adapt to that planet's culture and become one of them, but she doubted that would happen for the time he spent in his incubator made sure that he would fulfill his programming.

He would spend the rest of his life all alone on a ruined and forgotten planet, with only whatever wildlife he spared for food to keep him alive. He would know nothing but killing and surviving. Like a feral animal.

"I said, close it dammit!" Bardock angrily yelled. When Gine didn't react, he reached over to press the button himself.

No one deserved that kind of fate, least of all her own child.

In that moment she grabbed Bardock's hand and stopped him.

"Let me go with him."

Bardock paused for a moment, his anger at her stopping him was replaced with shock at what she said.

"What?"

"I said let me go with him." Gine looked at Bardock with determination.

"Gine, are you crazy? We don't have time for this!" Said Bardock, incredulously.

"Yes we do!" She said, putting herself between Bardock and the pod. "If Kakarot makes it to that planet and Frieza doesn't go after him, he'll be all alone for the rest of his days. If I go with him I could at least be around to look after him."

"Didn't you hear me?!" Bardock answered back hotly, "Frieza's men will detect you two if you launch together. It won't do him any good!"

"Maybe it will!" Gine said, this took Bardock aback. "Kakarot is extremely weak. You know this. I'm weak too. You said that yourself!" She pointed a finger at him, he wondered where she was going with this. The inspiration came to her as she explained her plan to Bardock. She was too caught up on going with Kakarot to know how, but now it made sense.

"So with both of us in there in the same pod, don't you think it wouldn't make much a difference if they detect two weak saiyans instead of just one?"

Bardock tried to speak, but stopped. It...kind of made sense. But-

"It won't work. They'll see you for sure and blow you out of the sky. It's too big of a chance."

"I know." Gine had to admit, that was true it was a very big chance. They didn't have a scouter to see what her power level was now, Bardock left his behind since he didn't want anyone to listen in on what they were doing. But last time she checked it may have been one-hundred-and-forty, before Kakarot was born. It was pathetic for a full-grown adult saiyan, but still detectable on any scouter. And if she got a power boost from childbirth, which could have put her up to five-hundred, they'll see them for sure.

"But we are already taking a chance as it is to save Kakarot. At least this way, two of us could be saved. And he will never have to spend the rest of his life all by himself on some godforsaken rock in the middle of nowhere."

Gine held Bardock's hand gently as she looked back towards Kakarot still crying in the open pod. "I would be there for him. To tell him about us, about you, Raditz, our race, Frieza, everything."

Gine looked back at Bardock, her eyes half-pleading and glistening with tears. "I will get to be his mother! He deserves that."

Bardock couldn't protest that. Gine may be so soft that she couldn't dare to call herself a Saiyan, but she was right. His son at least deserved a better life away from Frieza, and his mate could give him guidence. If this worked...

"Then what of the inhabitants of this planet. You intent to kill them all off with him or make them your pets? Should be weak enough even for you." He said.

Gine almost laughed, even near the end of the world he was still taking any potshot he can at her lack of strenght, but he was almost convinced.

"Maybe, but at least he won't have to be so alone." She just said. Gine honestly had no intentions to kill those poor creatures unless it was for her survival and for Kakarot's. But she wouldn't say that outloud, just enough to make Bardock happy.

He looked at her, then at Kakarot for a long, long moment. Time slowed for her as he decided her fate. Then, his shoulders sagged as he relented.

"Alright."

She lept at him before she or he knew it. Hot, fat tears of joy and sadness falling.

"Thank you." She said softly. Bardock held her by the waist and brought her back down.

"But you better get going now. We've wasted enough time as it is."

Gine agreed and collected herself. In a swift motion, she picked up Kakarot in her arms and took a seat inside the pod instead. Kakarot suddenly calmed down, so happy to be in his mother's embrace.

 _He'll be such a momma's boy_ , Bardock thought gravely.

"I will go face Frieza right after you launch, hopefully I can distract him enough to allow you two to escape."

Gine looked at Bardock with awe, how a low-class warrior like him would go on to challenge the galactic tyrant himself.

"Who knows, I may even beat him. Besides, we Saiyans will not go quietly." He said with an ounce of pride. She remembered then why she fell for him.

"If you do..." She said, "...You know where to find us. And find Raditz if you can." Sadness returning to her at the mention of her eldest. Oh she dearly wished she could have seen him one last time. If he was still alive...

"I will." He promised.

So many impossible promises being made already, Gine thought morbidly. But no matter what, in death or on a far flung world, they will all be reunited as a family again. Someday.

"Goodbye, Bardock" She said, her voice breaking again.

He nodded solemnly, "Goodbye, Gine" he then looked down at Kakarot, now looking up at him calmly. "And goodbye to you too, my son."

He pressed the button and the pod door closed. It locked with a hiss as she and Kakarot were sealed away from the outside world.

Gine pressed a hand against the glass window. She may never see him again, and took her last chance at what she had to say.

"I love you." She said, tears falling down her face.

He heard her through the glass, and Bardock simply nodded.

"I know."

He doesn't explicitly say he loved her back, but it was as close to it as a Saiyan could, and she'll take it.

A light began beeping on the pod's control panel, signalling it was ready for take off. She felt the engines hum to life as the pod lifted slowly off the ground, then stopped, floating in the air momentarily. She never broke eye contact with Bardock as he watched.

Then, without much warning to brace herself, the ground receded away with blinding speed. The sudden acceleration made Gine's vision tunnel for a moment. She never got a last glimpse of Bardock before he became too distant to see.

Her vision cleared when the pod's artifical gravity kicked in, nulling the acceleration on her body. Kakarot cried again, from the unpleasant takeoff. Already they were in space. Planet Vegeta was a brilliant magenta rock in front of her through the window. It was receding fast, far enough to see it in it's entirety after a minute into the flight.

Gine spotted Frieza's ship on the other side of the planet, hovering in it's place in high orbit. She wondered if they spotted them.

Then, she saw specks appearing around the ship, and they were moving. Her heart suddenly became a lead weight. They had been spotted. She had doomed herself and her son...

They didn't move after them though, they just stayed near Frieza's ship. Weren't they going to at least send attack squads or fire lasers at them?

Planet Vegeta got smaller and smaller as they get farther and farther. Still nothing has happened. They were still in one piece. Did they make it?

After a while, planet Vegeta became far enough away that it was a pinprick of light indiscernable from the stars that made up the infinite sea of outer space.

A high-pitched beep and rushing hiss of gas indicated that the pod's stasis mode was activated. Kakarot's crying ceased when he is induced into sleep for the long journey to their destination. Gine felt her mind slipping, trying to stay awake to keep an eye on-

Then, she saw a bright blinding light where planet Vegeta ought to be, as if it had become their star system's second sun.

Something deep within her heart broke, sensing Bardock's life force through their bond disappear. He had failed, and he, along with their entire race, and her home, was gone...

Those were her last coherent thoughts before she let herself fall into sweet oblivion.

* * *

 **A/N: Like with any alternate history story, a minor change may seem trivial now, but the consequences will become far more drastic as time goes on; and things have now been set in motion with Gine's survival.**

 **I used Dragonball Minus as the starting point for the story as I wanted it to be different than MasakoX's start where Gine goes by accident in his version using the Bardock: Father of Goku special. That and since DB Minus is confirmed to be canon, it would make more sense to change the story here so this new timeline will be connected to the actual Dragonball universe.**

 **I already have all the details of how this scenario would play out in its entirety, just that I still need to flesh out dialogue and scenes while trying to balance life responsibilities. So I hope you understand if this takes awhile.**

 **Anyway, hope you enjoyed this intro and be sure to give it a good and honest review!**


	2. CHAPTER 1: BLUE BACKWATER

**Hello again! I hope you enjoyed the prologue enough to continue on and see what happens next.**

 **Now that the fateful decision has been made in the beginning, it is now time to see how one little action at the start of the Dragonball timeline will ripple throughout the main story.**

 **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.**

 **Onwards!**

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all own by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.**

 **Please support the official release!**

 **Also, read and review!**

* * *

CHAPTER 1: BLUE BACKWATER

Blackness. It was total.

A shudder went through her, but it didn't affect her. A noise, a beeping sound that grew louder and louder. She was dreaming about something, but the beeping kept interrupting...

Gine waked with a start, jolting upright in her seat. Her mind was clouded in fog, having completely forgotten the dream she had just moments ago. In her lap she could see her infant son cradled in her limp arms. She immediately didn't remember his name.

 _Was he named Kakarot?_ She tried to recall.

Yes! She remembered. Yes he was. His name was Kakarot.

With that detail in her mind, she looked around. Gine saw that she was inside of a space pod. The incessant beeping came from a blinking red light on the control panel. It indicated that they had arrived at their destination.

Made sense, the engines were not runnning, and outside the viewport was a blinding light. She could make out that they were sitting inside a crater the pod made from landing.

She wondered for a moment why she was even there. Gine had always hated those first few minutes coming out of induced sleep, no matter how much she got used to it in the Frieza Force. But the fog in her mind finally cleared as the pod's stasis mode fully deactivated. She had no idea how long she and Kakarot had been asleep. Months probably.

After a few more moments, all of her memories came rushing back to her. Those of Bardock, of having to save Kakarot, planet Vegeta, Frieza, all of it at once as she fully came to. Then she remembered the last thing she saw before falling asleep, the bright light of her home planet exploding against the dark expanse of space.

Planet Vegeta was destroyed. Bardock was dead. All of her friends, her comrades, her entire species. Gone. Destroyed by Frieza. And she watched it all while trying to save her youngest son. The memories clear as they really did just happen to her only moments ago before stasis took over.

Gine sat there in the pod for a long while, trying to let everything that had just happened sink in.

Kakarot woke too, his yawning and cooing broke her out of her starring into nothingness. She looked at him and he looked back. She remembered now that she was here because of him. She wanted to save him from Frieza, and she chose to go with him.

Sadness and joy washed over her simultaneously.

"We made it." Gine said to herself quietly. She wished that Bardock could hear her, wherever he was now...

She and her baby were alive. Somehow, they had beaten the odds. They escaped from their planet's destruction; and judging by what they were seeing, they had made it to the planet she selected.

Not wasting any more time, Gine pushed the blinking light on the control panel. A piercing hissing sound filled the inside of the pod as the airtight hatch unsealed, and slowly opened outward. Cool fresh air and bright sunlight flooded the pod. She squinted and waited for her eyes to adjust. Once she could see, Gine gathered Kakarot in her arms and got out.

She stumbled and was almost sent flying from just trying to stand up. She caught herself in the dirt of the crater before falling over. This planet had very weak gravity, probrably a tenth of that of Vegeta's. That would take some getting used to.

Very gingerly, she walked out of the crater and took in her surroundings.

It seemed like they landed in a dense forest of tall pointed trees, surrounded by white-capped mountains. The sky was a deep blue, even prettier than the images of this planet she'd seen. The star this planet orbited hung high overhead, it's heat and light felt comfortably warm against her skin.

The air was alive with the sounds of wildlife everywhere, her sense of smell picking up the moist and very fresh scent of the foliage. The crisp air of the atmosphere she breathed into her lungs felt so rejuvenating it made her feel like a newborn breathing air for the first time again, and the sounds of abundant animals around her meant lots of fresh food to hunt.

Gine closed her eyes for a moment, lost in a surprising moment of bliss that the environment they were in gave her. No planet she had ever been to looked AND felt this peaceful, and beautiful...

She heard something. Her super sensitive hearing picking up what seemed like twigs snapping under footfalls. Something was approaching them from within in the woods.

She didn't have a scouter to identify what was coming towards them, or if it posed a threat. Moving fast, she leapt into a tree to hide. She adjusted herself to see where the sound was coming from, now getting louder. Kakarot fidgeted and whined, but Gine pressed a finger to his mouth to keep him quiet.

Through the cover she saw a bipedal creature appear out of the thick brush. A human? Must've been, it looked almost exactly like a Saiyan, except she couldn't see a tail.

It looked to be male, and elderly; based on the wrinkles of his skin, and by the grey in his hair and bushy mustache. He wore an orange tunic she didn't recognize, a fuzzy-ball tipped cap on his head, and a red pole on his back. From afar, he moved slowly but gracefuly, and carried an air of ease with him that seemed to make him appear harmless.

He was checking out the crater, then looked towards her direction, and suddenly perked as if somewhat startled. He then started walking toward them.

 _Oh no, did he see me?_ Gine panicked. She looked down to make sure Kakarot would stay quiet. But then saw his tail hanging out below. He could see his tail!

It was too late to grab it if he saw it. He was now right under them, with his red pole out. Was it a weapon?

She reached down to pull up Kakarot's tail when the human started to poke at it. He poked at it too hard though, and Kakarot cried out in pain.

So shocked she was by his cries that Gine lost her balance. In this weak gravity she could barely control her movements, even as small as leaning forward. Thus leaning too far trying to correct herself, she lost her grip and fell out of the tree.

She hit the ground with a thud. Kakarot landed on top of her, but the weak gravity luckily cushioned his fall. The elderly human jumped back yelping in surprise.

Gine immediately righted herself up, facing the human with baby Kakarot in a deathly tight grip in one arm.

The elderly human, now seeing what fell out of the tree in full view, looked at a loss for words. But seeing how wild-eyed this woman looked, he tensed up into stance as if preparing to fight. Even though she had been away from battle for a long time, as a Saiyan she could tell this human meant buisness. She had to fight, no matter how much she hated to or how harmless this human looked, she had her baby boy to protect.

Gine launched herself at him. With this low gravity she was incredibly fast, but was still trying to control her balance. Before she could send him flying into the trees, he simply moved out of the way. With nothing to stop her momentum, she slammed face first into the soft soil and grass. Instinctively she held Kakarot close to her chest to protect him from the impact.

She got back up. She was a little filthy from plowing herself into the dirt, and Kakarot covered in it too, but they were both unharmed.

Turning back around growling, she tried for another run at the human.

Gine threw a punch, but he simply dodged it. Then she threw kick after kick, still not hitting him. Getting angry, she went after him in a flurry of punches and kicks, but the human kept evading her attacks. He was making a serious effort though, trying to stay ahead of her movements. She was much faster than him, but she was still unused to the gravity and out of practice with hand-to-hand combat.

Then, out of luck, one of her strikes connected to him in the chest. He howled in pain as he was sent hurtling away. He skidded to a stop several yards across from the crater, stunned and clutching himself in pain.

Glad she was finally able to land a blow on him, Gine leapt up into the air. She would end this quickly by driving herself straight down towards where he landed and squash him.

She jumped too high though, as she didn't take the low gravity into account for her attack. In the time it took for her to stop midair and plunge towards the human, he had recovered enough to flip out of the way at the lost possible moment.

Gine slammed into the ground, half burying her legs and sending rocks and debris into the air from the impact. The human put some distance between him and Gine, he reached behind his back and pulled out the red pole.

Gine jumped out of the hole she made and tried to face him again.

"POWER POLE EXTEND!" The human yelled.

Before Gine knew it, she doubled over and felt the wind get knocked out of her as she was pinned into a tree behind her. It made a sharp cracking sound as it snapped and bent easily beneath her back.

Trying to regain her focus after being stunned, she saw to her amazement that the red pole was now several yards long and jabbed into her stomach. How did he do that?!

She grabbed the pole with her free hand and shoved it aside. With the force she used, it shattered a row of trees next to her, some of them falling in pieces and others not quite destroyed bent over from having their trunks cracked.

The mass of shattered trees next to Gine fell right on top of her. She instinctively raised both hands and released a blast of energy that filled the foliage with a rush of air and heat as she vaporized the trees, turning them into ashes.

It was then that she realized both her hands were empty. Where's Kakarot?!

The crying from her left told her where. He was laying on the ground in his bundle, flailing helplessly. Her heart almost stopped, she was so caught by surprise by being hit with the red pole that she didn't notice that she dropped him.

One of the trees that that was leaning over from being hit by the red pole snapped in two, and started to fall on top of him.

"NOOO!" She screamed in horror as she took a flying leap towards him.

She scooped him up just before the tree crushed him, skidded on her feet then fell over. Kakarot cried in her arms, hurt by her desperate clutching.

Gine looked back at the human. He hadn't made a move against her yet. He just stood there, his face now an expression of grave concern. Was he worried about himself? Or, was he concerned for her and Kakarot?

She couldn't fight him. She had been out of battle for too long, and this human proved to be a rather too formidable opponent. With this weak gravity she'll just be tossed around, and if she failed, Kakarot would be left defenseless.

It was better to get away than fight this human, Gine decided. With her free hand she fired a ki blast at his feet. He didn't have time to react when he saw the attack coming and the resulting explosion sent him flying back a ways. Taking this opening, Gine made a dash for the woods.

She ran as fast as she could, jumping over logs and brushing past trees so quickly it left scratches from the branches that scraped past her.

After a few minutes, Gine stopped and looked behind her. She couldn't see any trace of the human following her. They were safe for the time being.

With a sigh of relief she continued on into the forest, at a much slower pace to let her heart slow down, adrenaline still flowing from the battle. When the pounding in her ears subsided, she realized Kakarot was still crying.

"Shhhh, it's okay, it's okay. You're safe now, sweetie." She gently cooed. His cries subsided a bit, but still didn't stop. Then she heard a little rumble coming from him.

"Oh." She heard herself say.

He was hungry. Come to think of it, she was hungry too. After being in stasis for who knew how long, their bodies desperately needed sustinance.

Worry took hold of Gine again, as the problem of protecting Kakarot from that human was replaced with now having to keep him alive.

She looked up through the canopy of treetops, and noticed it was getting darker. The sun was lower to the horizon, and the deep blue of the sky was replaced with shades of pink and purple that would've made Gine stop where she was to admire it.

But she couldn't. She had to find something to eat soon.

* * *

By nightfall, they didn't have much luck.

Gine had found a somewhat safe location in an open space of the forest where Kakarot should be out of reach from predators. She got a small fire going with logs she collected, and sat against a rock with Kakarot in her arms. It was completelly dark save for the warm glow the crackling campfire provided them and the starlight above. They still had found no food.

The creatures of the woods had gone into hiding, probably to escape her since they were spooked by a Saiyan in their habitat. So far all she could do was find some non-poisonous plants for Kakarot to chew on. It should calm him down enough for now but they still needed to find something real to live off of.

They couldn't risk going back to the pod to see if there was anything they could use from it, since she was worried that human might still be there salvaging it instead, or if he went to alert more of his kind to her presence.

She wished that this planet's moon was out in full right now so they could just stomp everything in sight to make everything safe, but they couldn't. She was not sure when the next full moon would occur, or how often it did.

Gine looked up into the night sky, there were so many stars out. They looked very different than from what the constellations looked like back home. She wondered where planet Vegeta's system was among them. Or where it used to be...

Tears started forming in her eyes with that thought.

Bardock. He was gone. And every other Saiyan was gone too, and maybe even Raditz too. Killed by Frieza. She still didn't know why. How could he betray allies who've been nothing but loyal to him?

And now, she and Kakarot may be the last Saiyans in existence. And they were trapped all alone on this godforsaken rock.

Kakarot started to whimper too as he felt his hunger overtake him. Gine held him tightly to her chest, rocking him back and forth to try and comfort him. Her stomach started to rumble too.

All alone and starving, she thought. The weight of the situation finally starting to crush her.

Deep in her mind, although she tried to suppress it, she was starting to regret coming here. With what little time she and Bardock had to make this escape work, she was so caught up in coming with Kakarot that she hadn't thought through how'd she spend the rest of her life here; trying to survive with her son on a planet they knew nothing about. And here they were, starving and hiding from the inhabitants.

She was so angry at herself that she couldn't even fight off an old man. Was she really that weak and useless? And Kakarot, he was far weaker than that. If he was left to fend for himself, he never would have had a chance.

The tears started falling from her eyes and landed on Kakarot, she was almost crying with him.

Maybe...maybe it would have been better if they stayed on planet Vegeta. At least they would have all died together as a family and not so alone, cold, lost, and hungry.

She sniffled, letting herself get lost in her despair. Then stopped.

Gine sniffed again, through her tears and the campfire smoke she noticed there was another scent in the air.

Food. Her extremely sensitive Saiyan sense of smell picked up something that smelled like food coming from somewhere.

She quickly stood up with Kakarot and looked towards where the scent was coming from. It seemed like it was coming from the direction of a certain mountain in the distance.

Whatever it was, it brought hope to her. Maybe they won't starve afterall.

Gine took off into the forest, in the direction of the mountain. She picked up the pace, the growling in her stomach becoming almost painful. The scent was getting stronger as they got closer, giving her strenght.

When they got to a clearing, she stopped. She saw what looked like a dwelling with curved roofs on all four sides. The scent was very strong now, it had to be coming from there.

Her mouth started watering, Kakarot could smell the food too as he started to flail his arms out, as if trying to reach it. Oh gods, whatever was cooking in there, it smelled so good...then she froze.

Through an open window, Gine could see the elderly human she encountered earlier. He was setting out bowls of something he cooked. Dismay gripped her, how would she steal food from someone who beat her?

She considered retreating back into the forest, but she couldn't. Her feet were anchored and could only go forward, her body going towards the scent of something that could save them.

She had been without food for too long. And what was true of all Saiyans is that no matter the danger, they had to eat something.

Her stomach began to take over from her brain as she rushed towards the front door of the hut. There was no way she may find better food in the forest that smelled so tasty. She didn't care about fighting the human now.

Without thinking as her stomach took over her every action now, she charged through the wooden door. It shattered into pieces that flew everywhere as if it were waffer thin.

"WHERE'S THE FOOD?!"

* * *

The elderly human jumped out of his seat at the table, startled. When he regained his wits and saw who crashed through his front door, he tensed up. He recognized her as the young woman who attacked him earlier, and she had a crazed look in her eyes. But then he saw the baby she was carrying, and their disheveled looks.

They starred at each other for a few moments, and then he lowered his guard.

"Please, come in, come in." He said, calmly gesturing her to enter.

Gine was flabbergasted that this human didn't start immediately attacking her. She backed up a bit, wondering if he was up to something and if she'd have to run.

He raised both hands assuringly. "It's okay, I'm not going to hurt you or your child young lady."

Then he waved his hand over to the contents on the table.

"You must be famished. Please, come sit down and have something to eat."

Gine followed his gesture and saw what was on his table. Her eyes glistened over at what she had to admit was the greatest sight she had seen all day. The elderly human had cooked up a feast. Multiple bowls of white spheres of something grainy, grilled fish, vegetables, soup, loaves of bread, noodles, beans, pickled eggs, and other assortments of food she had no idea what they were, but gods be damned they looked so tasty.

Without thinking she sat down at the wooden table and set Kakarot on her lap. Before the human could say anything else, a flurry of hands and stray food went flying as she and Kakarot greedily inhaled everything within reach. The bowls of white spheres immediately gone, half the bread in one bite, the fish devoured, and eggs eaten whole.

After a few minutes, she and her baby slowed to a stop, catching their breath. Then resumed again to finish off everything else on the table that wasn't already devoured. The elderly human was surprised by just how much and fast these two ate, and slightly put off by their lack of table manners. They must have been very hungry so he was willing to let that slide.

They both stopped for the last time as the child immediately feel asleep in Gine's lap while she finished off some soup and chugged a glass of water in the same gulp. Everything on the table that could have been eaten was gone. The human did manage to sneak a bite of some white spheres and fish before they disappeared, but was glad that these two had their fill.

Gine sat there for a long moment, savoring the lingering taste of everything she ate, and the fullness of her belly. There was nothing on planet Vegeta that could remotely compare to the sweet and filling pieces of joy she just ate. Nothing.

"This is the best food I've ever tasted!" Gine thought aloud, her smile lighting up her face.

The elderly human chuckled, "Well, I'm very pleased you enjoyed it." He said warmly, "It's not often I have a guest to give me a second opinion on my cooking."

Gine looked down at Kakarot sound asleep in her lap, his face as lit up as hers from such a hearty meal. She ruffled his hair, and looked up to the human.

"Thank you so much." She said to him.

"You are most welcome my dear, you clearly needed it more than I did." He gathered the plates and set some of them in the sink. He started washing some of the bowls when he decided to brave a question.

"Now, if I may be so bold to ask, what are you doing out here?" He asked kindly. "It's not often you find a young woman wandering this far out in the wilderness with a baby."

He saw how protectively she held the child in question. She still didn't trust him but he decided to take his time to let her open up.

Gine still felt scared by this human, remembering how he easily tossed her around earlier. But he seemed to have no intention of harming them, especially after feeding them.

She subconsciously relaxed a bit and sat there, starring into space. "Well, It's a long story, and I'm not sure if you will even believe me."

The elderly human walked back to the table with two empty cups and a kettle of tea.

"Well, I think I can believe in strange things, for I have seem plenty in my life. Although..." He set the cups down and poured tea in them. "Would what you have to tell have anything to do with that strange metal sphere where we had our little skirmish?"

Gine picked up her cup and sipped the tea gingerly, hoping its warmth and exquisite taste would calm her nerves.

"As a matter of fact, it does." She said after setting down the cup.

"Really?" He face turned to that of amazement as he sat down.

Gine nodded.

"Well then, I guess you have quite a tale to tell." He commented. "Then why don't you start with who you are."

He realized something and flicked his head. "Oh, pardon me, where are my manners?! How about proper introductions."

He extended an open hand to her, his smile so gentle. "My name is Gohan. Son Gohan."

She looked at his outstretched hand and took it. She guessed handshakes were a universal greeting afterall.

"Gine." She said.

"Ah, Gine." Gohan repeated. "A lovely name." He then pointed towards Kakarot in her lap, who was now starting to stir awake. "And the child?"

Gine held him up for Gohan to see. "This is my son, Kakarot."

Gohan smiled at the boy when he looked at him, "Hello, little Kakarot."

Kakarot smiled back, slightly giggling. Gine couldn't help but smile too at how her boy seemed to welcome this old man.

"I think he likes me." Gohan said, amused by how the boy giggled at him.

"Seems like he does." Gine answered back. For some reason she felt much calmer. If her little boy felt open enough to laugh with this human, then she could feel comfortable around him too.

Gohan focused on her again. "Well then, Gine, how about you tell me where you two came from."

Gine took a deep breath and exhaled.

"Well, you see..."

Over the course of an hour or so, she carefully explained to Gohan everything. That the metal sphere he saw was their spaceship, that she and her son were from another planet named Vegeta. That they were a part of a warrior race called Saiyans who worked for the galactic emporer Frieza, who had them conquer planets in his name. She explained the Saiyans' ability to change into Great Apes when they looked at the full moon, how Saiyan babies were used to purge all life on whatever planet they landed on, and the different classes of Saiyan warriors. Then she recounted how one day Frieza inexplicibly turned against the Saiyans and destroyed their planet, her and Kakarot's escape to this planet with the help of Kakarot's father, and how she and her youngest son may be the only survivors. It was really difficult for her to tell Gohan about Bardock and Raditz without crying, but she did her best.

Gohan just sat there and listened, mesmerized by the tale that was far stranger than he ever could have imagined. By the time she was finished, his tea had gotten cold.

"You're from outer space?" Was all he could say, his voice filled with wonderment.

Gine nodded, it was alot for him to take in. He sat there in utter amazement at these strange beings, aliens practically, from another world that showed up literally at his doorstep. He never would've imagined that his world would've open up so incomprehensively vast when he woke up that morning. Life sure was funny that way.

"Well I...guess that explains the strange garments you are wearing." He said, pointing to the Saiyan armor Gine wore.

"And..." He gingerly pointed towards her and Kakarot's furry appendages "...the tails."

Gine let her tail flap around a bit so he could see, then wrapped it again around her waist.

"But you are not here to conquer our planet, are you?" He asked pensively. As much as the idea of aliens fascinated him, the idea of extremely powerful aliens that barbarically conquered planets and committed all forms of genocide terrified him.

Gine looked at him and shook her head vehemently. "No. We just came here to escape from Frieza." She looked down and stroked Kakarot's hair. "I have no interest in purging planets. I'm...I'm not like other Saiyans." This was very difficult for her to talk about. Back on Vegeta she'd be branded in public as an outcast if she said openly what she just said.

"I have...helped purge planets before, but I never enjoyed a moment of it. I hate bloodshed, and I hate myself for taking part in it."

She remembered when she was sent on her first assignment as an infiltration baby, and the countless planets she helped conquer afterwards before she was kicked out of the service. She prided herself for surviving the purging missions, but she loathed herself to this day for bringing so much pain and suffering on innocent people. She would never had done any of it if given the choice.

"I was never cut out to be a Saiyan warrior, but then again, I never really wanted to." Her eyes started to glisten.

"I'm weak. Always have been. Kakarot's weak too." She chuckled. "Must've got it from me."

She looked back up at Gohan. "We wouldn't have been able to conquer this planet anyway. But when we were escaping we didn't think that far ahead. So...I guess we'll just have to live here peacefully."

"I see." Gohan said, and sat there for a long time. "Well, if I may say so, I wouldn't call you weak."

Gine gave him a quizzical look, "Really?"

"Really! In fact, you are probably the strongest fighter I've ever come across, and I've met practically most of the best there ever were in the world." He said kindly. "A bit sloppy in technique and instinct maybe, but you have an incredible right hook for sure."

Gine took in what he said, as far as she knew it was probably the first complement she had ever received for her fighting ability. She really didn't know how to accept it, but remembered their fight from earlier. It was then that she noticed that he had a slight wince when he mimicked the punch to the chest he mentioned she did. Gine suddenly felt a wave of guilt.

"I-I'm sorry if I hurt you." She said, too ashamed to look at him.

Gohan waved his hand dismissively. "Oh my dear, please, don't worry about that. That's long in the past, and I've been through much worse."

Gine looked up at him, "You are too forgiving. Even after I tried to kill you."

"You were a desperate mother trying to protect your baby, and after everything you've been through recently I don't think you were in much of a position to make clear decisions." He said.

A slow smile crept on her face, relieved to hear that he held nothing against her for what she did, even if she felt she didn't deserve it. Gine didn't know why but there was something about Gohan in his grace and wisdom that made her feel so safe to her core.

"And..." Gohan turned solemn, remembering that Gine had experienced a loss far greater than he or anyone could ever imagine.

"...you have my condolences... for everything that was taken from you that day." He said, gently placing a hand on top of hers.

Gine sat there and let his hand sit on top of hers. Trying to digest his consolation as it all hit her again. The father of her children, her eldest boy, everything and everyone she had ever known. Her home. Gone.

Gohan was the first person she had ever been able to tell of it to, and he felt like he had to say something. It was weird that for such an unbelievable loss, she wasn't even sure how her mind could process it. But a sadness overtook her, and struggled to find the words to say.

"I appreciate that." She said softly, all she could really say.

Gohan nodded assuringly, he sipped his tea and realized it was cold.

He then noticed that the kettle had gotten cold too, they must have talked long into the night. With such a passage of time, he then decided to change the dark subject to ask the next obvious question even if he already knew the answer.

"Well, Gine, since you have just landed here, I can assume you don't have a safe place to sleep yet?" He asked.

Gine looked at him, then shook her head. A twinge of fear crept into her as she thought if he was going to force them to leave, and they had nowhere else to go.

"Very well. You can stay here then." He said simply.

Gine's head shot up at his answer. "Really?!"

"Absolutely, my dear. You must be in great need of some proper rest after such a long journey, so why don't you and Kakarot feel free to make yourselves at home." Gohan said.

Gine sat there stunned. This man, this total stranger whom she almost killed, had just not only fed them but also willingly offered shelter to her and Kakarot. Could someone really be this kind?

"You'd-you'd do that for us?" She asked, still in disbelief.

"Of course." Gohan said. "You can stay here for as long as you like so you can get your bearings on how to live like the rest of us Earthlings."

He gestured with both arms taking in the space of his humble abode. "The place is a bit small, but it is quiet and comfortable, and I wouldn't mind some company anyway." He said smiling.

She didn't know what to say, but tried to think of something. While she thought, she figured by how he used the term 'Earthling', this planet must've been called 'Earth'. Sounded like a pretty name for a pretty planet, but seemed strange since it was mostly covered in water. But she pushed that thought aside.

"Why?" Was all she could say.

"Because it's the right thing to do." He said simply, as if understanding her not knowing what to say.

Gine could only look at Gohan with her vision flooding with tears. She was too bewildered and touched by the pure generosity of this soul to take them under his roof. Only a few hours ago she thought she and Kakarot were resigned to die alone and afraid in a forgotten wilderness they were too weak to survive in. And yet this human they happened to come across had practically saved her and her son.

All her apprehensions of him gone, Gine got up and walked over to Gohan. She embraced him as tight as she could without crushing him, wanting to convey just how much she felt indebted to him.

"Thank you." She said as her voice broke. Gohan stood there and kindly patted his hands on her back.

"You're welcome, Gine." He said, feeling warmth fill his heart for bringing joy to a lost family on this day.

After a long moment, Gine let go of Gohan and wiped away her tears, sniffling. "Is there anything I can do for all you've done?" She asked.

"Ah, you don't need to do anything for me, as long as I know you and Kakarot are safe, that's all that matters." Gohan said, he looked past Gine and noticed that the remnants of the door she kicked in, then an idea clicked. "But maybe, you could help me fix the door?" He pointed.

Gine looked behind her and saw the shattered door, then looked back embarrased. "Oh, of course! I broke it, so I'll fix it for you." She said, then nervously. "But I must warn you I'm not good with tools..."

"That's alright, I can help you with those." Gohan said reassuringly, then an idea came to Gine.

"I can cook though!" She said with pride. "I was a chef on my home planet, so I can make you a feast sometime after the delicious meal you just gave us."

"Excellent!" Gohan beamed. "You can do that too if you like, but let's worry about all that in the morning." He said when he and Gine saw Kakarot yawning uncontrollably.

"Sounds like a good idea." She agreed.

"Then I'll go grab myself a pillow and blanket so you two can have the bed tonight." He went off to the bedroom to grab what he needed while Gine picked up Kakarot who was now almost fast asleep.

She looked out the window to the night sky, then back down at Kakarot, and remembered something. She walked towards the bedroom where Gohan was emerging with a pillow and blanket, and asked, "When is the next full moon?"

Gohan was taken aback by her seemingly random query, but thanks to how intunded he was to tracking time with celestial objects, "About ten days from now, why?"

"Okay," She said, then continued, "It's just that we need to make sure that Kakarot never looks at the full moon."

"Huh? Why ever not?" He asked incredulously.

"Whenever a Saiyan looks at the full moon, they transform into an Oozaru, or Great Ape. A giant creature that will destroy and crush anything in sight. For someone as young as Kakarot, he won't be able to control the form, and will almost certainly try to kill you and me." Gine explained.

"Oh my goodness!" Gohan exclaimed. He then remembered that Gine had already covered the Great Ape stuff while telling her story. He guessed it must have gotten lost in the details of hearing such a strange tale, but seemed to be an important detail now.

"Well, I'll certainly keep that in mind." He said urgently as walked past them to the living room. He then stopped and turned back around.

"It only happens if a Saiyan looks directly at the full moon?" He asked Gine.

She nodded, "Yes."

"Would he transform if he saw a half moon or a cresent or gibbous?" He asked further.

"No." Gine said, "Only if it was a full moon."

"Hmm." Gohan said thoughtfully to himself. He set the blanket and pillow down on the floor and went over to the back cabinet.

Gine was about to ask what Gohan was looking for when he emerged from the cabinet holding two strange looking contraptions that resembled two darkened lenses of scouters attached together.

"I wonder if he were wearing these, would it prevent him from transforming?" He held the contraptions out to her. They were two pairs of darkened lenses held in red-trimmed frames.

"What are these?" She took one of them and held it up, inspecting it.

"They are called sunglasses." Gohan said, he took the one Gine was inspecting and placed it on her face.

"Oooh, I see!" She said, finally understanding. "They reduce the amount of light reaching your eyes! Yes, these would definitely help prevent him from transforming."

"Perfect!" Gohan quiped in satisfaction, he took the other glasses and placed it on a sleepy Kakarot's face while Gine took hers off. When she saw Kakarot, she burst out laughing.

The glasses were comically oversized on his face, their weird design on his innocent face and wild hair made him look ridiculuously silly. Kakarot woke up from the sound of her laughing, and him knowing only that his mother was laughing, started to giggle too. The sight of his goofy-looking laughter-face being obscured by those glasses made Gine laugh harder, and Kakarot giggle more. Even Gohan started to chuckle too at how goofy the boy looked, and how fond the scene looked to him.

Gine laughed wholeheartedly for the first time her life. Free to live in the moment with her goofy little boy. No Frieza, no bloodshed, no survival, no fear, nothing but seeing how silly Kakarot looked.

Maybe 'Earth' won't be so bad afterall…

* * *

 **A/N: And so the story begins on Earth as it does, but with the first major change in the timeline from Gine going to Earth with Goku. Now that Grandpa Gohan knows Kakarot's real name from his own mother, he is never given his iconic adopted name, Goku. Thus, he is forever known only as Kakarot.**

 **And, with the knowledge of the Great Ape transformation given by Gine, Grandpa Gohan is not killed by Kakarot. Will we see him survive into Z? Tune in next chapter!**

 **Let me know how I did in a review!**


	3. CHAPTER 2: A NEW LIFE

**Hi all! Sorry it took longer to publish a chapter than it did with the last one, as I got violently ill. Anyway, back to full health and writing during my free time.**

 **Thank you all for the great feedback! There's definite potential here, and I'll keep a better eye out for spelling, typos, and other story ideas I haven't considered yet. So anyway, here's the next chapter on how Gine and Kakarot begin the process of adapting to their new lives on Earth with Grandpa Gohan.**

 **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.**

 **Onwards!**

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all own by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.**

 **Please support the official release!**

 **Also, read and review!**

* * *

CHAPTER 2: A NEW LIFE

"You got everything you need?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Gine said uncertainly. They stood in front of the hut with pieces of the destroyed front door on the ground, mixed with other pieces of cut wood that Gohan had from the pile out back. She held a bucket of nails and hammer in her hand.

"I'll try to have your front door fixed by the time you get back." She said, and looked at the pile of wood planks anxiously.

"Whatever you can do will be fine." Gohan reassured her. "It doesn't need to be perfect, just enough to cover the entrance."

"Okay." Gine nodded.

"Anything else that Kakarot will need?" Gohan pointed to the boy in question. Kakarot was sitting on the ground trying to catch a butterfly from his spot. He fell over, giggling.

The sight made Gine laugh, and it made her feel warm in her heart. "Nah, I think you got everything on the list."

"Very well then, I shall return by tomorrow." Gohan said, slinging the basket on his back. "Outhouse over there," he pointed one way, then another towards an empty drum "bath is over there," then towards the forest behind the hut, "river is over there", and finally pointed towards the kitchen through the doorless entrance "and feel free to make whatever you like until I return."

"I really appreciate this." Gine said to him for the umpteenth time that morning, still unable to grasp how anyone like him could be so kind to a stranger. He had taken them in, fed them, and now was going to the nearest village to get supplies for them.

"No worries my dear, anything to make your stay here on Earth more bearable." He said kindly, and took that moment to start walking.

"Be safe!" She called out to him, and Gohan waved back as he walked a path through the trees and disappeared.

Gine then went about the task of rebuilding the front door. She hardly ever used tools in her life, let alone primitive ones, so she had to learn how all this worked. Following the instructions Gohan gave her, she arranged the frame in a way that should form the rectangle the size of the entrance, and nailed the planks onto the frame. She smashed a finger or two with the hammer a few times, trying to strike the nails perfectly but missing wide.

"GAHH!" Gine yelped when she painfully smashed her thumb, and threw the hammer into the ground out of frustration. She threw it hard enough that it buried itself deep into the dirt.

Cursing herself and not wanting to lose any of Gohan's tools, she spent a good deal of time digging by hand to find the blasted thing. The soil came loose thanks to her Saiyan strength, but now she was making things worse with digging holes. Kakarot just sat and watched, amused by his mother's struggle.

By midafternoon she found the hammer and got out of the hole, realizing then that she had just decimated the beautiful grounds the hut stood on in her search. Trying not to let that undo her calm, she got back to working. After smashing one more thumb again and uttering some explicit words, she finally finished the rudimentary door. She gave it a test fitting in the entrance, and it barely fit. Gine also forgot to put in the hinges, so it just sat there like a giant board cover. Well, at least he said it didn't have to be perfect, so she called it good.

Then she spent the next hour filling in the holes she dug up, trying to undo the damage she did to Gohan's yard. She felt so stupid for causing this, but at least the place wouldn't look like it was pocked with craters.

When she was done, she inspected her work, nodding in half-satisfaction and half-embarrassment. The yard was still a mess, but the door was fixed (somewhat) and the holes where packed in.

Kakarot rolled in the dirt-packed concaves she filled in, laughing while he did so. Gine went to pick him up, he was almost as filthy as she was. She also realized that they haven't bathed since they landed, too tired to do so the night before. They definitely needed to clean up.

Gine took Kakarot to the river with the giant empty drum that Gohan told her to bathe in. She was flabbergasted that humans bathed in such primitive means, but this should work still. Using only one arm she scooped up enough water from the river with the drum and took it back to the hut. After setting the drum atop a rack of stone and getting a fire going underneath it, she waited for the water to warm up by getting some drying cloths and strange white bars of animal fat that Gohan told her was "soap".

The sun was almost behind the trees when the water was hot enough. Gine removed her dirt-soaked armor, boots, and leggings, then lowered herself naked into the boiling water with little Kakarot. He seemed to relax as much as she did when they felt how exquisitely nice the hot water felt. Savoring the hot water for as long as she could, Gine then took the soap bars and cleaned herself and Kakarot up, washing away the dirt from today and the dust from the day before. Kakarot giggled happily when she wiped his face with the soap.

"So silly you are", Gine cooed, she couldn't help but giggle too at how her son tried to play with the bubbles on his face and in the water. Gine felt a little embarrassed bathing outside naked, and also perplexed at how Gohan didn't have the modern means to bathe like a shower or a cleansing tank like on planet Vegeta. It felt like she had stepped back in time when Saiyans had yet to develop technology. But she had to admit that it had some charm to it.

When Gine dried herself and her son off then redressed in her armor, dusk was setting in. She went back inside to make themselves dinner.

Again, she was unused to using old-style cooking pots and open fire pits to heat food, which resulted in her almost burning the hut down. When the fire under the pot got too out of control she grabbed the handle to throw its overheated contents out the window, only to burn her hand when she forgot that iron pots conducted heat. Instinctively she dropped the pot that spilled the stew of vegetables onto the floor, and knocked some hot embers around, setting fire to some of the fabrics in the rest of the kitchen. With the dry wood of the hut, the fire started to grow fast.

Panicking, she ran outside and grabbed the drum of water they just bathed in and completely emptied it onto the fire. The cloud of steam completely enveloped them in the hut, and blasted out the windows. With the large drum of dirty water she dumped, the fire was out but now the hut was flooded out. The floor completely soaked, some furniture overturned, the pot and some fabrics very burned. The crudely constructed door she rebuilt was on the ground in pieces, again; washed out from the rush of water. Kakarot sat at the table and just looked at her, still expecting their meal to be done.

Great, Gine thought while she tried not to explode in rage and dismay. She almost destroyed her host's home and all her hard work undone. Not bad for her second day on Earth.

Giving up trying to salvage the stew, she just split some leftover loaves of bread with Kakarot. He whined that he wasn't going to get the big tasty stew that his mother was trying to make but the bread was not half-bad.

After finishing their meal, Kakarot was dozing off and Gine put him to bed. She rang out some of the fabrics as best she could and swept out some puddles of water to dry out the place. By late into the night, she was done. She'll worry about fixing the door again tomorrow, and hoped against hope that Gohan wouldn't be too mad at what she did.

Gine picked up and straightened the last piece of furniture overturned, then something on the floor caught her eye. There was a small plush violet pillow that looked like it was on top of something. She lifted it to reveal a small glass orb hiding underneath it. It was orange in color, and with four red stars embedded in it. Curiously, she picked it up and held it in her hand, fitting perfectly in the cup of her palm. She wondered what it was but could fathom no idea, it was rather pretty though. As Gine looked at her reflection in the orb, she felt a strange sense of mysticism emanating from this orb she held, like it had some great untold mystery or otherworldly power in it that she couldn't possibly comprehend.

She set the orb on the table she straightened, atop of the pillow which she assumed it was supposed to be where it rested. Was it some sort of decoration or memorabilia? Whatever it was, she could ask Gohan about it later.

In the master bedroom where Kakarot was fast asleep, Gine plopped herself onto the bed. Getting comfortable in the sheets with little Kakarot snuggled against her, she relaxed finally as she was left alone to her thoughts.

It was the first time since they landed on Earth that she could just lay there and think freely, so she savored the silence and the wilderness around them while trying to fight off the worry of Gohan getting angry at her damaging his house. She wasn't sure how, but something about listening to the sounds of insects, birds, predators, and prey in the night was so soothing; even if they terrified her the night before. Shelter changed everything. It almost made her forget she was on some far away planet with only her son and stranger for company...

That thought made her mind stop. The thought of her and Kakarot alone, with no Bardock and Raditz around. Suddenly, the sounds of the woods did not comfort her anymore, and her vision blurred with wetness. Then, everything faded as she lost herself to grief.

Like a tidal wave rushing out of her heart all at once she let out a hard wail into her pillow, not caring if it muffled her sobs enough to not disturb Kakarot.

"R-Raditz..." She choked out between cries of pain and sorrow, her face moist with tears.

Her firstborn child was gone, a piece of her own soul as much as her own flesh and blood had been extinguished. It was like she had a knife stuck through her heart to fully accept that he was dead.

And Bardock. The man she looked up to, the light of her life, and the father of her children was gone too. She had been around death before in her days as a low-class warrior, and seeing comrades die. But someone she bonded with, and her own child... how could she live with such pain?

Long ago she thought she'd have been prepared for the loss of people she cared about, even her own comrades and blood. She knew the realities Saiyans faced in combat for conquering other worlds for Frieza. She had almost expected to learn that either of Raditz or Bardock being killed in action someday. But now... it seemed unreal. And it took her two full days for her to finally break down from that fact. Funny how grief worked that way.

She grieved long into the night, crying until she feel asleep. Darkness overtaking her consciousness like the loss that had drowned her whole world. But as the wall of sleep closed in, she had one comfort in all of this despair: the knowledge that no matter what, at least Kakarot was safe...

When morning came, Gine woke up to feel the rays of the sun shining on her face. She grumbled and felt around the bed with her free arm. She hadn't moved from where she fell asleep, and she slept hard. Sore everywhere and feeling numb from the release of all of her emotions the night before.

Her arm brushed in the sheets in front of her, and her eyes shot open when she realized Kakarot was not in her grasp. Bolting upright out of bed looking for him, Gine saw that the room was a complete mess. Gohan's wardrobe was tossed all over the room as if a tornado went through his clothes. Some of them were torn, soiled, or both.

Gine soon got her answer to what caused all this when her son poked his head through a hole he chewed into on a rather expensive-looking tunic. He smiled so innocently at her, like he did nothing wrong. Her eye twitched.

She yelled at him something fierce which quickly replaced his happy demeanor with crying that wouldn't stop. With her work cut out for her, Gine gathered up all the clothes and sorted out whatever clean ones that were still intact. There were only two sets of shirts and pants for Gohan that weren't torn or soiled, and she kept them out of Kakarot's reach. She then gathered up all the soiled pieces and took them to the river, spending the rest of the day trying to clean them out and save whatever clothes she could. By the time she got back, she saw the door in pieces, almost entirely forgotten that it was destroyed again. Kakarot was in the yard too, having gotten his hands on the clothes she tried to hide from him and was now wearing it, and he still hadn't stopped crying.

Adjusting to this world was going to be harder than she thought.

* * *

Later that afternoon, after Gine finished reworking the door, Gohan returned. When he stepped out of the woods and came in sight of his home, he dropped the basket he was carrying.

"What happened here?!" He said as Gine ran up to him. She looked back at the hut, which looked more like a warzone. "I-I'm so sorry" Gine said nervously, "I-I almost burned your house drown trying to cook something, and Kakarot ruined most of your clothes. All the holes you see were from me trying to find the hammer to fix the door-"

"Slow down, Gine." Gohan placed a hand on her arm, it was a lot to take in.

"First thing's first, how badly did you almost burn it down?" He said.

Gine nervously showed him the damage, how some of the kitchen wall, ceiling, and pot was blackened. Then she showed him the water damage from trying to put it out, and the pile of clothes she tried to save from Kakarot. The boy was in the yard playing around in the dirt dug up. That she also had to explain to Gohan that it was from building the door, which had to be moved out of the way like a board than an actual door.

Gine was close to tears when she finished, almost certain that Gohan would demand that she leave immediately.

"It's no big deal my dear. Nothing to get too worked up about trying to adjust to life here." He said, surprising her.

"Now let me show you how to properly clean these clothes, then we'll worry about everything else." Gohan said reassuringly, as he gathered the clothes she salvaged and took them outside. She let out a breathe she didn't know she was holding, so relieved. His kindness and patience never ceased to amaze her.

He took the mayhem caused to his home very well, and he spent the rest of the day patiently showing Gine how to wash clothes by hand in a bucket of soap and water, not in the river. All the while they kept Kakarot busy with an improvised chew toy they made out of wood, which he chomped right through. He had quite a ravenous mouth but at least they saved what's left of the clothes in the hut, and he was already trying to walk.

Later that night he showed her the finer points of cooking with an open wood fire. With the tips Gohan gave her, she was able to finally bring the cook out of her and get the hang of it. True to her word she cooked up a feast from the animals Gohan hunted for in the forest, had them skinned and boiled into a proper stew with vegetables and some spices. It was a large hearty dinner she made to make up for the damage she caused and to show her gratitude to him, not to mention to support her and her son's Saiyan appetites.

After dinner Gohan showed her the supplies he brought back from the village. He had bought some extra food, books, diapers, soap, and some fabrics so they could make some clothes for Kakarot and her. The books he said he got would be to help home school Kakarot someday so he could learn how to read and write this planet's language, and so could Gine. She liked that idea for her son, but felt embarrassed as she realized she would have to learn how to read and write all over again for this planet.

Gohan had just finished his stew while sewing a blue tunic he was making for Kakarot.

"The stew was absolutely delicious." Gohan said, patting his belly satisfied.

"I'm so glad you like it!" Gine beamed, so happy she did it right. She gathered up the bowls and started cleaning them out. With Kakarot fed, they kept warm by the fire while Gohan worked the seams on the tunic.

"I must admit it was quite a learning experience to cook with an open fire." Gine said, looking into the dying embers. "Is there a reason why you don't use a regular stove or something? I mean, no offense, but this seems rather primitive." She asked tentatively.

Gohan mused over her words. "None taken. We humans do have modern technology, but I chose to live a simple life. I wanted to clear my spirit as a martial artist, and to do that I had to rid myself of modern comforts."

"Martial artist?" Gine asked.

"Yes." Gohan answered. "I study and apply the art of hand-to-hand combat. It has always been my life's passion to perfect it, and to do so I had to give up worldly pursuits to live a life free and untouched by convenience so I could master my spirit without distractions."

She was fascinated by this. "So...martial arts is a human way of fighting?"

"Well, not necessarily just for humans. But yes, it is basically everything that has to do with fighting with your own mind, body, and spirit without artificial means." Gohan answered.

Gine thought over what he said. "We Saiyans just called it fighting. But, no artificial means? Wouldn't that make it difficult for conquest or killing?"

Gohan looked at her. "It has nothing to do with killing. Though there are schools of martial arts out there that teach that, I would never want to kill anymore than you do. I practice it primarily for recreation, self-improvement, and for self-defense." He answered.

Gine was fascinated by that. "So, no killing needed at all?" She asked with amazement.

"If that's the type of training you wish to pursue, yes, no killing is needed. Though I don't think killing is ever needed." He answered honestly.

Gine thought hard about what Gohan said. Fighting without conquest or killing? It was so unfamiliar to her. As a Saiyan it was like loving to eat but hating food. But, she was not like any other Saiyan. She hated killing, and did not have the fighting spirit. But she still had the combative instincts of all Saiyans, and even a pacifist like her had to scratch that itch once in a while. They were manifested more verbally with Bardock than actual fighting, though some of it did involve trading blows for training purposes.

This "martial arts" was rather interesting though. To fight for fun and therapeutic reasons without bloodshed?

"Could you show me some of your martial arts sometime?" She asked.

"Absolutely!" Gohan said enthusiastically. "How about tomorrow? We could spar for a bit so I can show you what it's all about."

"Sounds like a plan." Gine smiled.

"Good." Gohan said as he finished the tunic he was working on. He then tried to fit it over Kakarot.

The boy squirmed and growled, thinking Gohan was about to strangle him. He bit Gohan's fingers hard, making the poor old man yelp in pain.

"KAKAROT!" Gine yelled, her son immediately cowered when he knew he was in trouble. After a sharp look she gave him, he slumped his shoulders in shame and mumbled in gibberish to what was an unintelligible apology. Gine was by Gohan's side tending to his hand.

"I'm so sorry about that." Gine apologized as she cleaned up the deep bite marks and bandaged up his hand.

"That's okay." Gohan said, "Your son has quite the survival instincts or he's just very ill tempered."

"He can be violent." Gine said worryingly, "He's been programmed since he was born to attack and destroy other living things."

"Programmed?" Gohan asked as he flexed his patched up hand.

"Yes." Gine looked to Kakarot then back at Gohan. "Saiyan babies are brainwashed for a time before they get sent on their infiltration missions. It's part of preparing them for life as conquerors."

"Brainwashed? As in...?" Gohan tried to ask, horrified.

"Yes." Gine answered grimly. "They are bombarded with mental images of battle and death to have their Saiyan thirst for battle amplified, and make them into killers born rather than just regularly trained soldiers."

"That's barbaric." Was all Gohan could say.

"I know." Gine said sadly, as she picked up Kakarot. He flinched slightly from her touch as if was expecting to be punished, but Gine just held him tight as she went on.

"That's why Frieza chose us to be his elite warriors in his empire. We were bred for war due to our violent nature. Since joining the Planet Trade Organization we were able to find better ways to conquer and get stronger, and brainwashing babies was one of them."

Gine looked down at Kakarot in her arms as she explained all this to Gohan, but she looked at him without seeing him though, staring off into space.

"I went through the incubation process too, like every other Saiyan. But I guess it never really took hold since I always hated killing, even when I was a infiltration baby." She said wryly.

"That's a very good thing." Gohan said to her. She was touched by his words since she never thought she'd get to hear them spoken to her.

"I'm glad too." Gine said, her smile downturned though when she looked at Kakarot again. "I just hope it never took hold in him too."

Gohan looked at Kakarot, the boy looking back and forward between them as if he knew they were discussing about him.

"Well, I don't think it may have. He has the same kind eyes you have, and you could tell a lot about someone that way. I think he's as gentle a soul as you are. And besides, he's only just begun his life. With you to nurture him, he will turn out fine." Gohan said thoughtfully.

He has such wisdom, Gine thought. Kakarot did indeed have her eyes, and had the look of innocence within him. But the incubation process was meant to drive all of that away. She was a rare exception while everyone else turned out to be the battle-hungry Saiyans they were born to be. Raditz turned out to be such a warrior, who's to say that Kakarot won't either?

But Gohan was right, that she was here though. She could teach him to be a good person, to undo all the evil that was put into his mind. She would still tell him of his heritage, but she would make sure to let him have a chance to be an actual innocent child who could grow as his own person and not as a pawn of an emperor.

"I hope he does." Gine smiled, knowing the task ahead of her as a mother. Then said teasingly to her son, "You better be." Kakarot just stared back at his mom, wondering what she was saying to him.

"Anyways, let's see if we can try this again." Gohan quipped, holding up the tunic. Gine set Kakarot back down and gave him a look that told him to behave this time. He didn't like being told to go against something his brain was urging him to do like attacking, but now he knew better than to disobey his mother.

With Kakarot pacified, Gohan fitted the blue open-chested gi on him, and tied it up with a white belt. It was a little big but he should grow into it. Kakarot played his hands over the fabric, fascinated.

Gine looked over her son and approved of Gohan's work.

"You look nice, Kakarot. Say thank you to Grandpa Gohan for making you that." She instructed. Kakarot turned to Gohan and babbled something in gibberish. Gohan smiled as the boy was learning his manners fast.

Kakarot paused at the last piece of gibberish he was trying utter, then repeated something he noticed his mother said about the man who was in front of him.

"G...Gwandpa." Kakarot said, pointing his tiny fingers towards Gohan.

Gine gasped, shocked that he had just spoke his first word. But she was even more surprised and delighted by how he addressed Gohan.

Gohan meanwhile smiled warmly. "Grandpa…" he said to Kakarot pointing towards himself. "Grandpa Gohan." He repeated. He actually liked the sound of that.

Then pointed a finger towards Kakarot's chest. "You, Kakarot." Gohan cooed and poked the boy's chest. Kakarot giggled.

"K...Ka...Kakarot." The boy said, trying to form the word with his mouth's newfound ability. Gohan could hardly believe that this boy was not yet a year old and was already walking and trying to speak.

"That's right!" Gine beamed. She bent down at eye level with her son and pointed a finger at herself.

"Mama" she said, then pointed to Kakarot.

"Kakarot." then back to herself. "Mama".

Kakarot starred at his mother for few long seconds with his innocent eyes, then pointed to her. "Mama." He said, then pointed toward himself as if unsure. "Ka..Kakarot."

"Good job!" Gine said happily, then hugged her son.

"I can't believe how fast your son is growing." Gohan spoke the same thought she was having.

Gine looked into her son's eyes, smiling back at her.

"Neither can I." She said quietly.

* * *

The following day, Gohan and Gine were out front of the hut as they agreed after she helped him finish the morning chores.

"Go ahead and come at me like you did the other day." Gohan instructed.

Gine looked at him surprised and worried. "A-are you sure? I almost killed you last time."

"You won't need to worry." He assured her. "I've been hurt worse in my younger days, and I know you won't try to seriously hurt me this time. And besides, this is just a friendly spar."

"O-okay." Gine said, not entirely convinced. "I trust you, but I just don't want to accidentally hurt you."

"I appreciate your concern, Gine. But I'll be fine, and I'll hold nothing against you if you land a blow on me." Gohan said.

"That's good." Gine said. It was refreshing to hear words like that, she'd been too used to grudges for training fights back on Vegeta.

"Alright then." Gohan said as he got into stance. "Go ahead and come at me."

Gine readied herself and charged him.

She threw punch after punch and kick after kick at Gohan. He made a serious effort to dodge all of her attacks since she was rather fast. But he observed her movements easily, mentally noting that she was very sloppy. No technique or plan of attack at all, just throwing attacks out there and hoping to hit something like an amateur.

The fight went on for several minutes, Gohan trying to not get hit but dodging her every move. Kakarot sat on the porch watching them, mesmerized.

After ducking low from a sweeping high kick, Gohan strikes her in the side of her leg to make her lose her balance. Gine fell on her side and groaned, but it didn't hurt too bad. Gohan stood over her victoriously.

"How'd you do that?" She asked, amazed that she was somehow on the ground.

"You leave yourself open a lot." Gohan commented, but grimaced as he massaged the hand he attacked her with. "But you sure do have tough skin to protect you."

"Well, living on a planet with gravity ten times stronger than this planet can do that." Gine said as Gohan helped her up.

"Yes indeed it can." Gohan said.

"But I still don't get it though." Gine said, "I thought that you humans wouldn't be able to beat someone like me since I'm built stronger as a Saiyan. Or am I just that bad at fighting?" She added, not too proud of that last hypothesis.

"Relying on brute strength alone does not mean weak spots cannot be exploited." Gohan answered.

Gine took in what he said, he had a point. But still, she had trouble trying to comprehend that idea. "Where I came from, strength means...or, meant, everything. It meant that no matter what our opponents had in the way of weapons or knowledge, if their power levels were weaker than ours, they couldn't beat us."

"Power levels?" Gohan asked in puzzlement.

Gine caught herself and explained, "It's a numerical system of measuring strength or power that we used to evaluate our opponents. If the number of power or strength was measured to be lower than us, they were weaker. Higher than us, stronger."

"And how did Saiyans go about measuring these power levels?" He asked.

"With devices we wore, called scouters." Gine explained by cupping her hand over one ear to visualize it. "They measured power levels whenever we went into battle so we would know if we could handle whatever planet we were assigned to or had to call for backup."

"I see." Gohan thought over what she told him. "If you ask me, I'd say its a foolish way to enter battle."

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"As I said, relying on strength alone does not guarantee that you would win a fight. If you had opponents who were much faster than you or knew pressure points, magical abilities or things of the like, you can still be beaten. Like how I managed to take you down, even though you are much stronger than I am." Gohan said.

Gine was taken aback by what he said, not expecting such an answer to her question.

"But, I-we always believed that strength was what determined everything. We believed that the strongest Saiyan should be our king, and Frieza ruled over our king since he had the highest power level ever known." She said.

"Well I don't mean to offend or judge a belief system I know little about. But believing in such an idea as who is the strongest through who could lift the heaviest or blow up whole planets or what not is very narrow in its scope. For being a big strong warrior who is too slow won't do much if he or she couldn't hit opponents or doesn't know energy management. There is far more to fighting than just how strong your muscles are or how much gravity you grew up in. Granted it's a great advantage to have, as you Gine are definitely fast and strong in the gravity of this planet, but if you don't know how to block or plan or manage your movements, you can easily be defeated." Gohan lectured.

Gine thought over what he said, things sort of clicking into place in her head. There where times she heard rumors of Saiyans being forced to retreat or eradicated by enemy fighters that were supposedly easy prey, yet somehow managed to hold out. At least until they brought enough reinforcements to overrun them or just blow their planets up. She guessed they had sort of the same idea as what Gohan was trying to show her.

She reluctantly nodded in agreement, finally seeing what he was trying to get at. Gine had to give pause though that he mentioned magical abilities. Did such things really exist on this planet? They had to, with a human like Gohan that could beat her, anything could be possible here on Earth.

"I guess we got too used to the idea that with enough strength you could beat anything." She said wistfully.

"Well, that's also partially true." Gohan said, which caught Gine's attention.

Gohan went on. "You are indeed strong from the gravity you lived in, and you have knowledge of ki attacks like the ones you did in our first fight. But you lack technique and discipline. If you mastered those things combined with your strength, you'd be almost unstoppable."

He did have a point there too. If Saiyans fought the way Gohan did, they would have been a far more formidable force to contend with. But she didn't think if that would extend to her though. That thought made her look away from Gohan.

"I guess that would be true." She said, "But, I was never a warrior. I was a weakling and a pacifist. I don't think I could fight like that."

Gohan shook his head, "Nonsense. I think you could."

Gine looked at Gohan seriously, "What makes you say that? I don't like to kill or cause pain and suffering."

"Who said anything about killing?" Gohan scolded. "Just because you have a kind heart doesn't mean you are weak. If anything, it makes you stronger than you realize. You have a code of honor, and a desire to protect instead of destroy. Having those qualities can give a fighter incredible strength from within rather than just what your body could do or with selfish desires. And if you set your mind to being the best fighter you can be, anything is possible. You would never have to do any killing to do so."

Gine looked at Gohan incredulously. "Really?"

"Of course. Anyone has the potential to be the greatest fighter of all, and they can be for forces of good. While true that you and your son come from a race of people that make humans look puny in comparison and conquered planets for a tyrant, but anyone who sets their minds to being the best can become the best through hard work, dedication, and a good heart." Gohan said passionately. "That's the beauty of what it means to be a martial artist. To not be the best of others, but to be better than yourself."

It all struck a chord with Gine. The idea that she wouldn't have to fight for bloodlust or conquest. That she could fight for the sake of fighting for good, or even for fun. That she could be the best she can be, and not just the bottom of the barrel. This was completely unheard of.

 _Everyone has the potential to be great if they set their minds to it._ Gine rolled those words in her mind, trying to fully grasp what it meant. It almost sounded like something Bardock would say. How he tried to claw his way up the ranks through taking the most difficult jobs he could take, that he tried to be something better than what he was born for.

She loved him for that kind of spirit, even though she didn't immediately agree it was true. She remembered how the caste system of Vegeta was set up. Those who were the strongest ruled, as King Vegeta did. But Bardock never fully believed that, as he had proven time and time again that he took on jobs that were meant for the elites and came out stronger for it. But he killed and caused a lot of destruction that she hated so much, but never believed that she could get stronger without such acts. But now she had just seen it with Gohan, an elderly human on a pathetically weak planet that managed to take on a Saiyan. Living proof that being a killer was not the end-all be-all of fighting.

Did she, and by extension all Saiyans who knew her, confuse her gentle nature for weakness? That the fighting spirit of Saiyans was just the combative urges they had and not the lust for killing? Did it mean she was meant for something better? That instead of killing, she could fight for fun? To scratch her Saiyan itch while still being a good person? Could such a wonderful thing exist?

All those questions circled in her head, and all of them answered with yes. It all sounded too good to be true, but it all made sense.

"I could get used to that idea." She said more to herself than Gohan.

"I'm glad you agree." Gohan said with a smile. "When people set out to better themselves, the world is a great place."

Gine looked back at Gohan, not with the distant look she had a moment ago. "Can you teach me how I can be a good martial artist like you?"

Gohan chuckled. "Of course! I'd be more than honored to teach you."

"You'd really do that?" Gine said, amazed.

"Yep. I love teaching the art of fighting as much as I love making people's lives better." Gohan said truthfully. "If you keep making more of those excellent dishes you cook, I just might teach you everything I know."

She felt like she had just landed on the luckiest planet in the galaxy. A beautifully quaint home, a safe and unknown haven for her baby boy far from Frieza, with the most generous host she could possibly imagine helping her find a new purpose in her life. To top it all off, the food was to die for. There's no way all of this could be real.

Gine walked up to Gohan and shook his hand with new vigor, "It's a deal."

"A deal it is." Gohan repeated.

Gine let go and backed up a bit. "Well if you feel up to it, why don't you start things off with telling me how I can protect myself from the moves you did to land me on the ground." She said enthusiastically.

Gohan looked at her bemused, "We'll I'd rather show you the basics first, but I do feel like trial-by-error is good way to introduce you to this. So lets go at it again, shall we?"

"Then lets do that!" Gine said, already getting into a fighting stance. She had never felt more thrilled for sparring than she ever had in her life.

"Very well then." Gohan got into stance, a big grin on his face. "Come at me when you are ready."

"You're on!" Gine said as she charged him.

Gohan and Gine fought long and hard. He'd take her down every time and explained what she did wrong and how she could correct it. Whenever she didn't understand what moves or ideas she'd have to employ he would explain them to her the concepts and how to do them. Everytime she learned something her fighting improved slowly but surely. She'd managed to land a few blows that would send him flying but he was never hurt too badly, and continued on, happy with her progress.

They fought long into the day as Kakarot sat and watched them go, captivated. His mother looked genuinely happy for the first time since they landed here, and whatever they were doing, it looked so fun.

Without noticing it, Kakarot stood up and clumsily tried to mimic the fighting moves Grandpa Gohan and his mother were doing.

Gine and Gohan took a break, letting him catch his breathe. They looked over to Kakarot, seeing him trying to emulate their moves.

"I guess he would to try martial arts too someday." Gohan said as he and Gine watched. She looked at her son with a swell of pride in her. He had some of Bardock's spirit in him, she could tell. Even if he had such a low power level, maybe it didn't mean anything. If he could be better than what destiny provided Bardock, then maybe Kakarot could too.

She hoped he would.

* * *

Over the course of the weeks and months that followed, their lives blended seamlessly together. Gine lived and trained with Gohan as his student while she cooked, kept up with any other chores she did with him to live together, and raised Kakarot. All the while she managed to learn how to fight like Gohan, refining her style and acquiring some of his techniques. In no time she managed to be a formidable challenge to Gohan and not him being a challenge to her. He could not even knock her down anymore like he used to at the beginning. But he still sparred with her as she was quite fun, and expanded her horizons further with getting her into meditation exercises and managing her ki better. Through fighting for fun rather than survival, Gine found a great release for her grief for her eldest son and Bardock. She still cried in the night or at random times when thoughts of them overtook her, but martial arts training has really provided an anchor in her life to ground herself back into reality and focus on the family she had now.

Kakarot grew fast. Before Gine knew how much time had passed he was walking, talking, and learning how to fight by watching them and practicing on his own during their early morning routines. Just barely older than one year and he was already wanting to join his mother and adoptive grandfather in their sparring sessions. They agreed to go easy on him at first and teach him the basics, but he learned fast. Before they knew it, they were having three-way battle royales and one-on-one fights with him. Kakarot was still weaker than them but his strength grew fast enough that they could throw actual punches at him. Gohan even gave him the red pole he had to provide a better challenge for the fights and as a gift to him. She learned that it was called the Power Pole, a magical staff given to Gohan from his old martial arts teacher by the name of Roshi. She was amazed to see a simple wooden pole expand and contract to such incredible lengths and be practically unbreakable.

Gohan never mentioned the possibility of them leaving, and neither did Gine, even though she had managed to get mostly oriented to life on Earth. Having spent enough time living and training together, they didn't want to break the arrangement that grew from Gine and Kakarot's integration into Gohan's life. He enjoyed teaching Gine the arts of fighting, for it was like teaching the old ways to someone who only knew modern things from another world. He also enjoyed their company even if he did miss the isolation of the hermit life. Gine paid back the teachings he gave her with stories of the world she came from and had seen, being the best sparring partner he ever had, and the excellent food she made. Neither of them wanted to break that unspoken deal. So they both silently agreed to themselves and each other that they would never bring that up as long as the other didn't.

Winter arrived and Gine had never been so in love with a planet's seasons before. Seeing the landscape of Paozu blanketed in white powdery snow, feeling the icy cold temperatures she found to be soul-cleansing in contrast to the scorching heat of planet Vegeta, and hearing the silence that snowfall brought made the home she lived in seem magical. She really did almost feel blessed to live here.

By then Gohan had taught her how to knit and sew, so she made her own clothes to wear when it got too cold to wear just her armor. After enough practice and pricking her fingers, Gine had made a fighting dress that was dark green with an ankle-length skirt, purple long sleeves, and pants to go with the blue boots that Gohan bought her. Fitting it on, she felt like she was now one of the Earthlings. Indiscernible from other human women except for her tail, which she wrapped around the belt at her waist. And with that, she put away her armor. Feeling at long last she can put the past of planet Vegeta behind her.

On this particular day, Gine was busy teaching Kakarot how to read. He was making slow progress, even though Gohan said that human children are much older by the time they get to this stage in development, so Kakarot had that head start going for him.

"T-Th-The boy..." Kakarot struggled to make out the words in the children's book his mother was making him read. "t-thwew...th..."

"Go on, you got it." Gine encouraged him, sitting by his side. He was still trying to pronounce his 'r's but she let it slide this time. Although he was slow to learn by Saiyan standards, at least he was not having as much trouble as he was with arithmetic.

"th...threw...the...red..." He paused as he tried to figure out the last word. "...ball...to h-his...pa...papa."

"Good job sweetie!" Gine clapped for him.

Kakarot closed the little book in a hurry. "Can I go play now, Mama?"

"Yes you may." Gine answered, glad he asked this time instead of taking off. He clumsily got up and ran to the door, Gine followed him. "Don't forget your coat!" She yelled out to him.

They played out in the snow for the rest of the day, with Gohan showing Kakarot and Gine the wonders of snowball fighting and snow sculptures. They laughed hard at the silly things they drew in the snow like a blank piece of paper. And they laughed even harder at how competitive the snowball fight got before it devolved into a all-out brawl between the three of them. It was the most relaxing fun Gine ever had, made more so that Kakarot was involved too.

With his insane amount of child energy he single-handedly fought and beat his mother in the snowball fight and proceeded to chase critters in the snow, trying to catch them. He still had the random urges to hurt them but Gine was always there to reprimand him. His programming ran deep but he did indeed have his mother's gentle nature, so she made sure to drill into him that causing unnecessary harm was wrong. She hoped after awhile and enough times to remind him of these lessons, the mental imprinting done to him could be undone or fade away to nothing. He'll still crave for battle but she hoped it will be for sport or self-preservation.

By nightfall they feasted on mountain lion that Gine killed and smoked herself, making a nice warm meal to ward off the cold and replenish their strength after such a brutal snow play-battle. Later, Gine tucked her stuffed and sleepy son into bed while she stayed up, looking at the snow and stars by fireside while her mind wandered. A crescent moon was out tonight so she didn't have to wear her shades, and it lit up the landscape by making the snow sparkle, rendering it indistinguishable from the twinkling starlight up above. Gine didn't think she'll ever get used to the unparalleled beauty of this world.

"Mama?" She heard Kakarot say, still drowsy.

"Yes, sweetie?" Gine looked at her son, who was yawning but looking at her intently.

"Do I have a papa?" He asked.

Gine's breath caught in her throat. She knew that this question would come eventually, but didn't think it would be so soon. Then she remembered the children's book Kakarot tried to read today. It did contain a story about a mother and father, and figured that's where he got the idea from.

"You did have a papa, sweetie." She said.

Kakarot looked at nothing, thinking over what she said. "Where is he?" He asked in his gentle voice.

Gine didn't know how to explain the concept of death to her son. He was almost two years old, and by what Gohan said he already had the cognitive capabilities of seven year old human children. But Gohan said that explaining something that meant was gone permanently was something people should learn later on in life, as humans were a little more adverse to talking about death among other blunt things. Gine considered this, but Kakarot was a Saiyan and was meant to know death by now as any other would. At least he may have gotten the grasp of the danger of it through him fighting with them. And he deserved to know his history.

"He's dead." She said. It's about as plain and simple as she could put it.

Kakarot digested what she said, thinking about what that word meant. Then, "What does dead mean?"

Probrably should've used the word "gone", she thought. Too late to undo what she said, so Gine tried to explain it as easily as she could.

"It means...gone. As in like, you fall asleep and never wake up." She said carefully.

Kakarot looked at himself in bed then looked back at her, and back at himself in bed. "Am I going to be dead if I fall asleep?"

"No! No, you will absolutely not!" Gine said adamantly, she really should have worded that better.

"What I meant was...dead means..." She tried to think of another way of putting it, but it was too tiring on her mind, and it brought up the uncomfortable memory of Bardock and Raditz.

"Let's talk about that later." She said finally, hoping to bring that subject to an end.

Kakarot looked confused, but he appeared to have let go of pursuing the topic, not wanting to upset his mother when he could sense when she wasn't unhappy. He lay back down, and started to doze off again, but then let out another question.

"What was he like?"

Gine looked at Kakarot and back out to the night sky, almost as if looking for planet Vegeta again.

Words like brave, harsh, competitive, and determined entered her mind. He was the kind of Saiyan that charged into a fight no matter how difficult, and fought with his teammates like they were family. He considered them more family than even her and Raditz sometimes as they were far weaker than him, but he still cared about them to a small degree, but leagues beyond what most saiyans ever would. But aside from all that, he had something in him that drove him to be better than himself and others, that gave him the strength to rise above his caste. The thing that really drove her to him.

"He was strong." Gine said. She then turned toward Kakarot in bed and brushed her hands through his hair.

"And he looked exactly like you." She added quietly as she thought of how eerily similar the two looked alike.

Kakarot stirred as his mother petted his scalp.

"Was he stronger than you and Gw-Grandpa Gohan?" He asked.

Gine chuckled. "Yes. Even stronger than me and Grandpa Gohan."

Kakarot momentarily looked up at her in awe, "Wow." Then sleep began to take over him again, and he was rapidly drifting away.

"Will I be...as strong as..." Kakarot tried to murmur in his dozing off state, but started snoring soundly before he could finish his sentence.

Gine looked at her son, knowing how he was going to finish that sentence.

"Sweetie, you'll be even stronger." She whispered, never more certain of anything she ever knew. Somehow Bardock saw something in Kakarot, and she saw it too now.

He will be something special someday...

* * *

And so the winters go by as the three of them lived together in perfect harmony. Through training and living the simple life of a hermit, Gine had found a place she would never have dared to dream of belonging to. They were far enough away that Frieza would never look for them, and Kakarot could grow up to know a peace that she never did. For that, she was eternally grateful to Gohan, and even adopted his surname Son to signify that they had become their own little family. That and in case anyone asked who they were on her rare visits to the village Gohan went to every now and then.

The grief she felt for her lost family never left her, but grew duller and manageable over the years. The past receded further as she focused her energies on the here and now with the family she had, and Gine was happy.

Her dream of living a quiet and peaceful life with her son had come true. But as she would come to learn, peace and quiet don't last forever...

* * *

 **A/N: There we go, settled in like proper Earthlings and ready for the big adventure when Bulma comes along! It may take awhile since I will be taking a trip overseas soon so please be patient.**

 **To my guest reviewer who suggested I list the power levels of our characters: while that's a good idea I think I'll refrain from doing that. For listing power levels that would be radically different than in the original story would be guestimations at best (especially for characters that weren't officially given any like Gine), and not to mention that as well all know, power levels are meaningless. Plus, makes for better suspense in the heat of battle instead of it being a numbers game. Hope you understand.**

 **Let me know how I did and Happy Halloween!**

 **See you next chapter!**


	4. CHAPTER 3: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

**G'day all! Back from down unda and ready to continue the story, with the arrival of** **Bulma and the beginning of the grand adventure we all know and love.**

 **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.**

 **Onwards!**

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all own by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.**

 **Please support the official release!**

 **Also, read and review!**

* * *

CHAPTER 3: THE ADVENTURE BEGINS

Gine was working the garden when Kakarot came running past her.

"Alright, Mom! Just finished chopping the wood, I'm gonna go get us some lunch!" He called out as he ran towards the woods.

"Be sure to get fish this time!" Gine yelled back. Kakarot waved in acknowledgement as he disappeared toward the river. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, and got into stance. But Gine already knew.

She kept pulling the freshly-grown rhubarb out as she heard commotion behind her as Gohan attacked Kakarot, and paid no mind to it. It was part of Kakarot's training, and had become a little game between them to see who could keep up their guard the best.

After a slight scuffle, they stopped.

"Not bad, boy!" Said Gohan as he emerged from the woods as well.

"Hah! Well nice try yourself, Grandpa!" Kakarot countered slyly.

"We'll I'll get you next time. No matter how slight or relaxed you may be, always keep your guard up." Gohan appraised.

"If there'll BE a next time," Kakarot chuckled, then continued running off into the woods. "See you later, gotta get some fish!"

Gohan watched where Kakarot took off into the thick brush of the trees, and chuckled. He was indeed improving his defensive skills, and now he wasn't able to surprise him out of the woods like he used to. Kakarot was a fast learner.

He picked up the large basket of potatoes he hid while planning to jump his adopted grandson, and headed towards the house.

Gine sighed in contentment as she took a break from pulling the rhubarb and sat on the ground. She closed her eyes and took a deep relaxing breath, enjoying the scent of a pleasantly warm spring day.

It was difficult for her to believe that eleven years had already passed since she and her son had arrived on Earth. The ethereal peace of mountain life had made time slip by so fast for Gine, enjoying every beautiful winter and losing herself in the upkeep of their home while she watched Kakarot grow. She herself was pushing thirty-six years now, but Gine looked barely a day older than when she landed here. Only her eyes showed any progression of her age for they held the looks of a woman who had long since made peace with distant pains, weary from the still linger shadow of her old life, and garnered wisdom from years of homesteading.

She sighed again after her short break, and was about to continue harvesting when Gohan came up behind her.

"What's with all the sighing?" He teased.

"Oh, nothing." Gine said fondly. "Just enjoying this gorgeously fine day."

Gohan's face crinkled into a wide smile. "A gorgeous day it is, indeed." He then looked curious again. "Though I sense there's more beyond that, since I noticed that you do this kind of thing whenever Kakarot goes off hunting."

He always had a way of knowing things, Gine thought. She sighed yet again, almost in acknowledgement to Gohan's observations.

"Well, in a way, I'm glad to have some alone time from him. Don't get me wrong, he's the greatest thing to have ever happened to me aside from making a life here; and I love having him here. But, he's grown up so much that he's reached a point where he's...trying, on a mother's nerves, I guess."

"I see." Gohan said, "He's been here his whole life and your starting to grow a little weary of his company."

That was putting it bluntly, Gine thought, also thinking that her straight-forwardness had rubbed off on Gohan over the years.

"Basically." She said. Gine leaned back and sat on the ground again, facing Gohan. "He's a very fine young man, but you know how energetic he can be."

"That is very true." Gohan acknowledged, he set the basket down and sat down with her too. "He's getting very restless I'd say. He ought to get out more often to burn off some of that energy of his."

"That may very well be. Back on Vegeta he'd be out on his own by now." Gine said, she pulled off her gardening gloves to sit in the grass more comfortably.

"But didn't you say he's years away from becoming an adult?" Gohan asked.

"Technically, yes." She elaborated. "Though he is not yet at an age to find a mate, he's old enough to be surviving on his own. Saiyans usually part from their families to become independent before they reach puberty."

"I see." Gohan nodded. "Us humans usually rear children until they reach the age they seek mates. But I guess the need for self-reliance is stronger in Saiyans."

"That's very true." Gine agreed, for it tied very closely for their desire for strength.

"Then I'll see if I can persuade Kakarot to get out more often, perhaps he can join me during another one of my trips to the village." Gohan offered.

"It sounds like a good idea." Gine said, but she knew even then that it wouldn't be enough. He'd been there once or twice before. He needed to venture out of his comfort zone to truly grow someday, but she didn't know exactly how.

This was something they've hardly discussed before though, as it almost bordered on the silent agreement that neither of them should bring up one of them leaving. Gohan had let them integrate into his life, but he had every right to say they should leave. Yet he didn't, and she didn't think he would. But who was she to judge what he thinks?

Gohan sensed her hesitation, almost as if he knew what she was thinking. Then Gine spoke before they could think further about that untouchable topic.

"And I've already decided that I won't force Kakarot away if he doesn't want to. But by the time he reaches his adult growth spurt, I'll make him leave whether he wants to or not." She said, then added "For his sake... and for the sake of our sanities."

Gohan chuckled in agreement. She meant what she said. Knowing Saiyan instincts, by the time they become teenagers to young adults and if they have been cooped up for too long, Kakarot will get wildly more antsy, maybe even violent. Saiyans by then will also need to seek out a mate, or else they'll become hostile. So she made a resolve to kick him out before puberty would take full effect of her son.

Her thoughts drifted back to the agreement, realizing what she just said almost echoed the idea of Gohan forcing them to leave after a certain time. She momentarily worried if she violated the agreement or if it was just her nerves. But she sat there uncomfortably.

The wind shifted. Then, Gine froze.

"Hm?" Gohan noticed her change in stature and alertness.

She stood up, her hypertoned senses picking up a strange sound coming from the direction of the road.

"Someone's coming." Gine said.

"Oh?" Gohan inquired tensely. They never had someone willingly come this far out to here before. Whoever it was, must be here because they were really lost, or...

Before he could ask further, Gine headed toward the source of the approaching sound. The awkward conversation already forgotten.

As she walked faster and faster towards the road, she heard a shriek. Then it sounded like Kakarot was shouting.

Gine's heart instantly doubled its pace in worry as she used her incredible speed to get to the commotion.

After rounding the hut, she saw the source of the clammer.

Kakarot was staring down a type of vehicle that had been flipped on it's side. Gine remembered that it was called a car from what Gohan had told her about the types of transportation on this planet.

"That was for trying to sneak up on me and steal my fish!" Kakarot yelled. A giant blue tuna lay on the ground nearby, at least he caught what he was told.

"Come on out and fight me, you monster!" He yelled at the car, his Power Pole out and he posed ready for a fight. It occurred to Gine that her son had never seen a car before.

Before she could call out to him, a wild-eyed human girl popped out from the side of the vehicle. She had blue hair and looked not much older than Kakarot.

"Huh? A human girl?" Kakarot said in confusion. He relaxed his stance and looked at her in confusion.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" The girl suddenly yelled, pulling out a handgun and fired at Kakarot. He recoiled as the projectiles struck his head.

"KAKAROT!" Gine screamed. Her maternal instincts in full swing, she rushed toward her son.

When she reached him she instinctively shielded him from the girl in case she fired at him more, but saw that he was fine.

"Ow! Holy cow! What was that?!" He groaned, rubbing his head from where the ballistic projectiles struck him.

Her worry was quickly replaced with anger as she turned towards the girl in the car.

"Why did you shoot my son?!" Gine demanded.

The girl didn't respond. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates when she saw how fast this lady appeared out of nowhere with this kid. This made Gine angrier, and the last thing anyone should do was make an already pissed off mother defending her child even more pissed.

Faster than the girl could see, Gine punched through the side of the car like it was made of paper mache and snatched up the girl by the front of the pink dress she was wearing.

The girl yelped in terror as she was yanked out of her car by the strange woman who materialized from thin air. She tried to bring the gun to Gine's face but she swiped it out of the girl's hand, crushing it in her grasp without noticing it.

"WHY DID YOU SHOOT HIM?!" Gine yelled in her face.

The poor girl was frozen in fear, utterly speechless as her mouth was agape at seeing her handgun taken and crushed. Gine almost felt sorry for her, and feeling slightly bad for causing such duress to her, but she did attack them first.

Having enough of this girl trembling and not getting any answers, Gine moved her free arm as if she was going to strike her, hoping to get her to react.

The girl then threw her hands up.

"AHH! WAIT! WAIT! PLEASE! I"M SORRY! PLEASE DON'T HURT ME! I-I didn't mean you any harm!"

Gine stopped, glad her little bluff worked. She let go of the blue-haired girl, who stood there with her hands up in surrender.

"Well if you don't mean any harm, then why did you shoot my son?" She repeated her question. Speaking of which, Kakarot was on his feet again, by her side with his Power Pole out and ready.

"Yeah! What was all that for?" Kakarot demanded. The girl went even more bug eyed.

"AH! You-you should be dead kid!" She said bewildered.

"What in the blazes is going on out here?!" Gohan yelled as he rounded the corner of the hut, "Oh" he said with some curious interest when he spotted the girl.

"Well he's not! So why did you attack him?" Gine said to the girl.

The girl looked between her and Kakarot, still shaking the bewilderment from seeing the kid still standing from being shot in the head.

Coming to her senses, she said "It-It was an accident! This kid flipped over my car! I thought he was going to attack me!"

"You hit me with that thing!" Kakarot accused, pointing towards her flipped car.

"You came out of nowhere!" The girl yelled back defensively.

Kakarot yelled, "I thought you were trying to steal my-"

"ENOUGH!" Gine shouted to both of them, trying to quell the argument. When they both quieted down, she turned to Kakarot.

"Kakarot, say you're sorry for flipping this girl's car over and frightening her." She told her son. Kakarot looked at her in confusion, and she looked back at him sternly.

Knowing not to question his mother, he bowed towards the girl.

"I-I'm sorry." He said, not really meaning it.

Then Gine turned to the girl, "And you, apologize for attacking my son."

The girl looked indignant, but by this point knew better than to go against someone who looked like she could literally break her.

"I'm sorry too." She said.

Gine softened a bit. She still didn't trust her, but realized that she was just a weak human girl and is of no threat to them. "And I am sorry too, Kakarot here is a very nice young man, but forgets his manners sometimes."

The girl looked at her incredulously, then back at Kakarot. "Uh, yeah, sure. No problem."

Now with that out of the way, she decided to get further into what all this was about. Gine turned to the girl.

"Now then, why don't you tell me who you are and why you are here?" She ordered.

The girl straightened, feeling slightly better with her but still apprehensive. "Uh, well my name is Bulma."

Gine then extended her hand. "My name is Gine." She introduced herself. Bulma reluctantly shook her hand. Then Gine pointed towards Kakarot.

"And my son, Kakarot, you know already." She said. Kakarot waved sheepishly.

"Yeah, no kidding." Bulma humorlessly joked.

Then Gine asks the next obvious question.

"So, why is someone like you way out here, Bulma?"

Bulma answered without skipping a beat. "I'm actually here looking for the dragonballs."

"The what?" Gine asked.

Bulma dropped her backpack and reached in.

"These!" She said, pulling out two small orange orbs. Gine and Kakarot looked at them, then gasped in amazement.

"Hey, we have one just like those!" Kakarot said.

"Really?" Bulma asked excitedly.

"Yeah, we do." Gine answered, feeling curious. She never knew more of these orbs existed, let alone what they were called.

Bulma seemed to sense that Kakarot and Gine didn't know the importance of these things and they had it.

"Can I see it?" She asked them.

Gine was hesitant but Kakarot spoke up for her, "Sure!" He said warmly, already forgetting the tiff from earlier.

"It's up at our place." He pointed toward the hut and Gohan. "That's my Grandpa, by the way." Kakarot added.

"Oh, cool. Hello!" Bulma waved at the old man, and he waved back smiling warmly.

"Why don't you come on in? We were gonna have lunch anyways, so you can tell us about these dragonballs." Kakarot offered.

Bulma couldn't believe her luck. "Sure! Lunch sounds good." She said enthusiastically.

"Uh, but, Kakarot-" Gine started, but he had already grabbed the big fish he caught and they were all heading towards the hut.

She really had to pound in his manners better. He was inviting a stranger into their home who already had a fight from earlier.

Gine followed a bit further behind as they headed up towards the hut. She couldn't tell but felt something gnawing on her, wondering if was her nerves or something else about this girl...

* * *

Gine cleaned and cooked the giant fish Kakarot caught while Bulma chatted away with Gohan and Kakarot. She was feeling rather unsettled, since this was the first time they've ever had a visitor in their home.

She had seen other humans before during the trips to the village, but kept as low a profile as she could as she didn't want attention drawn to her. Too used to the hermit life and not wanting people to know they were not from this world. That and this Bulma gave her an air of having an ulterior motive for being here, since NO ONE comes here on purpose besides them. So Gine kept constantly glancing over her shoulder towards Bulma as she cooked.

When lunch was ready, Gine set the fish plates down on the table just as she was catching what Bulma was saying. Kakarot busied himself between eating the fish and listening to Bulma's story.

"And when you gather all seven of them, a magical dragon is supposed to appear and grant you one wish."

"Is that so?" Gohan asked, fascinated by the tale while Kakarot was far more enthralled. The other two dragonballs she had were on the table to show to Gohan.

"Yep!" Bulma said with absolute certainty.

"And what will you wish for if the dragon did appear?" Gohan asked, and Bulma smiled.

"A lifetime supply of strawberries!" She beamed. The three of them just stared.

"You must really like strawberries, I guess." Gohan said.

"Nothing better!" Bulma said, "They are my favorite food. It's always so difficult to get fresh strawberries in the city, they are all aged and sour without having to travel to the farmlands and pay so much for them. And there is just nothing better than the sweet taste of a freshly plucked homegrown strawberry."

"Well, I'll have to agree with you on that." Gohan chuckled before sipping his tea.

Gine didn't believe her. There was no way that was the truth, even if there was such thing as a wish granting dragon, why waste such a power on growing something so simple? But, she didn't seem to be lying. So what could it be?

Gohan looked over at Gine and noticed her apprehension, so he smiled reassuringly. Gine wanted to protest but relented, for she knew that if Gohan didn't feel concerned or believed something he was told, then so could she. But still...

"And if we give you our dragonball, what would be our cut? A shipment of strawberries every year?" Gohan asked.

"Naturally!" Bulma chuckled back.

Gine rolled her eyes, for the wish was not a lie, but just flippant. Bulma didn't really believe in the legend. She was just a spoiled city girl out looking for a little fun, so her coming here was just basically a scavenger hunt for jewels.

Gine was slightly embarrassed by being so suspicious of this girl that they practically manhandled for bumping into Kakarot, she was no threat at all. So she felt herself ease up a bit.

"Very well, then, I guess you could have it." Gohan said, he got up and picked up their dragonball from it's velvet resting place on the shelf. "I see no reason why you can't as there seems to be more like these." He said as Bulma took it into her hands gleefully.

"I have one condition though." Gohan said.

"And what would that be?" Bulma looked at him suspiciously, she wasn't going to agree with just about _anything_ for the four-star ball.

"If the legend turns out to be true and the dragon does appear to grant you a wish, just come back so you can tell me about it."

"You got a deal, Mister Gohan!" Bulma said excitedly as she and Gohan shook on it, this was easier than she thought.

Gine didn't say anything. She didn't believe in the legend Bulma was telling, this was just some city girl out on what she thinks is an adventure. Judging from the way she was dressed, she looked poorly prepared to find those...'whatever she called them' things here in the mountains. And if she didn't have any other kind of weapons beside the gun she crushed, Bulma will likely get killed by a cougar or bear by nightfall if she went off on her own.

She was contemplating giving this little lady some advice when she noticed how Kakarot was listening very closely to every word Bulma said. Then, an idea popped into her head.

"Why don't you take Kakarot with you." She said without realizing it.

They all looked at her, wondering at her proposal.

"He knows the woods and the mountains better than anybody, he'll help you find the...what were they called again?" She asked.

"Dragonballs." Bulma answered.

"Right, dragonballs. He help you find them in no time if they are around here."

Bulma looked to Kakarot then back at Gine.

"Well maybe, but I don't think they'll all be out here. The two I found were several hundred miles apart, including the one you have."

Gine thought this new information over, but regardless if she needed him or not, she wanted to stick to her idea that her gut was telling her to do.

"Either way, you should take him with you. No offense, but you don't seem well prepared for an adventure."

"Are you kidding me?!" Bulma yelled indignantly. "I have a gun and capsules for your information!"

"And yet Kakarot was able to disarm you." Gine pointed out, this girl had a very poor understanding of how dangerous the wilderness was.

"But he could be your bodyguard in case you run into trouble. And besides, he needs to go out there and see a bit of the world."

Kakarot looked at his mom, confused. "I do?"

Bulma looked at his mom, "He hasn't been out much?"

"No, he's been here all his life. I do think a little adventure would do him nicely." Gine said.

Bulma looked to Kakarot seeking to know if it was true. "Is that true? You've never been anywhere?"

"Yep. Lived here my whole life." Kakarot answered.

Bulma looked to Gine and back at Kakarot. "Sure, why not? I could use a little extra protection and some company. And I'd be happy to show him the sights."

"The sights?" Kakarot asked, his curiosity peaked.

"Yep, there are all kinds of cool things to see in the world. Get to see the big cities, cross the deserts, and even see the ocean!" Bulma said.

"Really?" Kakarot said astounded.

"That's right." Gohan added. "You can go see all the far away places you read about in your books, and learn all about what life outside the mountains is like. You might even learn something new about fighting out there too."

Kakarot's eyes lit up with a wonderment that Gine had never seen from him before.

"Oh wow!" He exclaimed, and turned to his mom. "Can I really go with Bulma, Mom?!"

Gine sighed in embarrassment and relief. "I just told her to take her with you, of course you can go." She said calmly.

"ALRIGHT!" Kakarot jumped in joy, unable to contain his excitement.

"Then we have no time to lose, grab your stuff and lets get going!" Bulma declared. She thought that this kid should be fun to have around, but she won't need him once she got all the dragonballs, then she could wish for what she really wanted: the perfect boyfriend.

Kakarot hastily finished his lunch and grabbed his Power Pole, Bulma opened a capsule on the ground that made a motorcycle pop into existance. Kakarot was ready to leave but stopped.

"How long will I be gone?" He asked them in general.

Bulma thought and said, "Not sure, however long it takes to find the dragonballs I guess."

Kakarot looked to his mom for her input.

"I'm fine with that, just remember to not be gone for too long." Gine said.

"Okay!" He said, and ran up to his mom and gave her and Grandpa Gohan a hug.

"I'll be back soon!" He yelled as he jumped on the motorcycle behind Bulma, and rode off. He waved back at them.

"BYE!" They all said to each other, Gine watched them go until they were out of view...

 _Finally some alone time for once_ , she thought. But she couldn't help but have mixed feelings.

Gine was beyond excited that her son can have an opportunity to explore the world, but this was the first time he had ever ventured out on his own without her guidance. He needed this. But...

"He'll be fine." Gohan said, breaking her train of thought. Almost as if he knew what she was thinking.

"Yeah...I'm sure he will." She said uncertainly.

* * *

An empty nest was easier on the child than the mother.

Later that evening, Gine was pacing back and forth in the hut restlessly.

"What if he gets hurt?" She said, biting her knuckles. Her mind was in a whirlwind of worry. She had been thinking about nothing but what could happen to Kakarot out there all by himself.

"As I said, he'll be fine. He's a strong lad, you are just worrying too much." Gohan said, more concerned about Gine giving herself a panic attack than Kakarot's safety.

"Or what if he hurts someone? Like, what if he looks at the moon by accident?" She lets out the worst of her worries.

"I don't think that would happen. We've made sure of that, and he's never transformed since you came here." Gohan reminded her.

"But what if he forgets himself?" Gine said, not listening. "He forgets things sometimes, and what if he forgets its a full moon out and he does hurt someone?"

"So what, if he does?" Gohan said abruptly. Gine stopped pacing and stared at him, her mouth agape. That got her attention finally.

His face softened. "You said so yourself that Kakarot needs to do things on his own, right? Well, that includes his responsibility to not hurt others. You can't nurture him forever. This is something that he needs to do. You've pounded that lesson into him his whole life and he's turned out rather well. So I think its reasonable enough to assume he will be okay." Gohan assured her.

Gine stood there for a moment, then nodded reluctantly. "I guess you're right." She said, but it didn't do much to assuage her fears.

Gohan gently placed his reassuring hands on her arms. "I understand your fears, Gine. No amount of reassurances can make a parent stop worrying about their child, but in order to fly, the mother bird needs to trust her chicks that they are ready. This is as much of a test of growth for you as it is for Kakarot. You just need to trust him."

After a while, Gine finally let out all the tension she was holding in a long and deep shaky breath. Gohan was right, like always. She needed to trust her son to do the right thing. She made it her life's purpose to raise him properly, to be a good man of his own someday rather than just another battle-crazy Saiyan. And to do that would mean to do things the way humans did, all of this something no Saiyan mother has ever tried in history. She said so herself that he has reached a point where all of her raising has to be put to the test. He can't do that all cooped up, and she indirectly got what she asked for in the form of Bulma coming along. A part of her hoped something like this would happen later (despite how much she wanted it to get Kakarot out there), but as Gohan would say: the beauty of life is the unexpected.

"Okay." Gine said quietly, then smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry I freaked out."

Gohan joyfully hugged Gine and let her go. "That's quite alright. There is no need to continuously worry, my dear. It won't do you much good but stress yourself out."

Gine snorted sardonically. "Well I AM his mother, it's my job afterall to worry for him."

Gohan chuckled. "That's true."

* * *

Weeks later, Gine was outside the hut hanging up some laundry to dry, humming to herself.

As she finished smoothing out the cresses on some towels, she stopped humming. There was another sound. Another kind of humming she could hear, a strange puut-puut noise from the sky.

She looked high up to see a yellow streak heading straight towards them.

She tensed, not sure at what she was seeing should make her feel threatened.

The yellow streak arced sideways. It was a puffy yellow cloud leaving a contrail in it's wake, humming along like it was a moped. On the cloud was a dot, which (as the yellow cloud go closer) then grew to resemble that of a little boy on it.

"HEY MOM!" The boy called out from the cloud. She immediately knew.

"KAKAROT!" Gine exclaimed with joy, her son leaping from the cloud as it flew over them.

She held out her arms to catch him and he effortlessly landed in them.

"I MISSED YOU MOM!" Kakarot laughed and squealed in delight in her embrace. Gine hugged tightly as tears of joy threatened to fall.

"I missed you too, sweetheart!" She said, her voice slightly cracking. All the worry she had suppressed during his time away having resurfaced in force in the form of jubilation, that he had indeed returned alive and well.

"GRANDPA!" Kakarot called out as Gohan came running toward them.

"Dear boy, you're back!" He said joyously.

The three of them ended up in a large embrace as Gohan and Gine took in how much they missed him.

"So, how was your journey?" Gohan asked, as he released his embrace of Kakarot while Gine still kept a hand on his shoulder as if afraid of letting go of him.

"Oh it was amazing, Grandpa! We got to hunt for the dragonballs, fight some rabbit mobsters, put out a fire-"

As Kakarot recounted his journey rapid fire, his stomach growled angrily.

Gine laughed, knowing how important that sound really was.

"Let's have some lunch first, then you can tell us all about it!" Gine offered.

"YEAH!" Kakarot didn't need to be told twice.

So over lunch, Kakarot recounted the adventure he had in a jumble of names and places that Gine couldn't follow fast enough. But a couple names stood out.

"Ah, you met Ox-King?" Gohan asked Kakarot.

"I sure did. Is it true that you and him trained together under Master Roshi?"

"That we did! That was decades ago though." Gohan said wistfully. "So how is he doing nowadays?"

Kakarot paused to catch his breath from eating then spoke. "He used to be a warlord, but stopped when Master Roshi told him too. He now had a daughter and an entire mountain kingdom where he kept all his treasure. It caught fire and we tried to put it out, but Roshi saved their castle from the fire by doing a special attack that Roshi called the Kamehameha Wave."

"The Kameha...what?" Gine asks.

"The Kamehameha Wave." Kakarot clarified. "It's a sort of technique where you could channel your energy into a beam that can obliterate any obstacle you want it to. He put out the fire but destroyed the castle, but it worked. It was really cool, and even I got to try it after watching him do it the first time."

"You tried it?!" Gohan asked amazed.

"Yep." Kakarot said.

Gine was intrigued by how surprised Gohan was when Kakarot mentioned that.

"You mean, you really successfully performed the Kamehameha?" Gohan asked again, as if in doubt.

"Yeah." Kakarot said simply. "Though mine are nowhere near as strong as Master Roshi's, but I think I can be as strong as him someday if I practice more."

Gohan was flabbergasted. It was almost too good to be true, but Kakarot was not one to tell a lie.

It took his master fifty years to perfect that technique, and Gohan himself didn't master it even though he was his best student. Kakarot had apparently did it successfully just after seeing it once.

"I can show you later if you like." Kakarot offered.

Gohan smiled and said genuinely, "Now that, dear boy, I would definitely love to see."

"Cool! Finally I get to teach you guys something for once." He said excitedly.

This made Gohan chuckle and shake his head in happy bemusement. Gine was surprised how this type of knowledge unknown to her could make Gohan so jittery, so she hoped she could learn what this was too.

To think, this little boy from the stars had learned on the fly one of the greatest martial arts attacks and was going to teach them how he did it. Kakarot was truly full of surprises.

Gine then decided to ask, "Kakarot, what was that strange thing you were riding on the way here?"

"It was the Flying Nimbus." Kakarot said. "Its a magic cloud that can take you anywhere you want to go as long as you were of pure heart."

"Pure of heart, huh?" Gine said.

"Yep, so far only I and the Ox-king's daughter, Chi-chi, could ride it. Everyone couldn't sit in it and just fell through it."

Gine was facinated by this, and a part of her felt suddenly warm and happy at the notion that Kakarot was such an innocent enough soul to be considered "pure". She couldn't agree more that her boy was really something special. She couldn't help but feel a touch of pride too that she may have done a good job at raising him afterall.

"Oh, and by-the-way, Mom, the Ox-king is single." Kakarot said nonchalantly.

At first she didn't know what he meant, but when it sunk in, Gine's cheeks turned into several shades of red. Gohan was on the verge of laughing.

Gine fidgeted with her tea, trying to ignore the uncomfortable silence from Kakarot, as if he was waiting for her to respond.

"That's good to know." She said tightly, and refused to say anything more.

 _Almost_ did a good job at raising him, she thought.

Gohan couldn't stop grinning, but decided to bail Gine out and change the subject.

"Where did you get the Nimbus from?" Asked Gohan.

"It was a gift from Master Roshi." Kakarot said.

"AH! He's still keeping it real, eh?" Gohan beamed in nostalgia.

"He was your old martial arts teacher?" Gine asked, trying to keep this new conversation going.

"That's right!" Gohan said.

"And he said I can train with him if I want to!" Kakarot beamed.

Gohan looked very pleased. "That's very great news Kakarot! Roshi is very selective of the students he would take in, so you must have made quite a first impression on him." Gohan said.

"Oh yeah, we did alright." Kakarot said, completely ignorant of the fact that he bribed him with Bulma exposing herself to part him from a dragonball. But it worked, and Roshi did say he saw this boy had potential as a fighter.

"Was the legend true?" Gohan suddenly asked.

"Hm?" Kakarot asked, confused by the change in questioning.

"Did a magic dragon appear after you gathered the dragonballs?" Gohan clarified.

"Oh. Yes it did." Kakarot replied. "It granted a wish after it was summoned."

Gine was surprised, as was Gohan.

"Amazing! Well, what did you wish for dear boy?" Gohan asked.

"Panties." Kakarot answered simply.

Gine almost choked on her tea, and Gohan looked in horror.

"What?" Was all he could say.

"Oolong, the transforming talking pig I told you about earlier, he wished for some panties." Kakarot clarified. It didn't reduce the shock though.

Gohan shook his head. "Oh dear, sounds like something Master Roshi would do."

Gine looked horrified too, not wanting to dare ask what else Roshi would do. But he sounded like a complete pervert. And Kakarot was going to train with him?

But another thought entered her mind. The dragonballs really granted wishes?

"It saved the world though." Kakarot replied, breaking Gine's train of thought. She and Gohan looked at him questioningly.

"We weren't the only ones looking for the dragonballs. There was this little evil guy named Pilaf who wanted to gather the dragonballs to wish himself to be the emperor of the world. Oolong used the wish before he could so he saved the world." Kakarot said.

Gine and Gohan were amazed, this was a really strange tale. But, all things considered a magic wish-granting dragon wasn't outside the realm of possibility anymore, so anything could happen now. And not only had Kakarot got to venture out on his own but helped save the world.

But another question came to her mind.

"But, what happened to the dragonballs? What's stopping this Pilaf from wishing again to rule the world?" Gine asked.

Kakarot didn't waste a breath. "After Oolong made his wish, the dragonballs flew up into the sky and scattered away on their own. Bulma said that they scatter randomly across the whole planet, and they turn to stone for a whole year before they can be found again."

The details just got weirder, but at least that answered her question.

"So you'll search for them all over again?" Gohan asked.

Kakarot looked to him. "Yep, we'll go look for them again someday, and make a better wish next time."

Strange indeed.

"Well, strange but it worked. In either case, I'm glad you helped save the world." Gine said. She didn't expect to say those words over this particular lunch, or contemplate that the world was in such danger while she was going about her day. But she was glad if not overjoyed nonetheless, that her little boy, a Saiyan-outcast from where he came from, had saved an entire planet from subjugation. It definitely put to rest any misgivings about her upbringing of him, manners and social skills aside.

"I'm glad too!" Kakarot said, as he continued to munch on his dinner.

As Gine watched, she noticed something, then jumped to him in horror.

"Where's your tail?!" Gine demanded, she flipped Kakarot over, surprising him. She inspected her son's lower back and sure enough, there was a scabbed-over stub where his tail ought to have been.

"Um, well..." Kakarot said hesitantly, "It was cut off."

"What? Why?!" Gine demanded. She looked intensely at Kakarot, awaiting for his answer.

He looked at his feet, ashamed.

"W-we were held prisoner by Pilaf in his castle. There was no other way to escape. So..." He paused, trying to get the word out under the accusing stare of his mother.

"...so I had to look at the full moon." He admitted.

Gine took in a sharp breathe, she was terrified something like this would happen. But Kakarot continued.

"I went Oozaru so I could get strong enough to help us escape. I did break us out, but I got too out of control, they said. So they cut my tail off before I could hurt anyone." Kakarot finished, he was close to tears. Gine sat there in silence.

"I-I'm sorry Mom. I know you said I should never ever look at the moon. But, there was no other way out of there." He said, his voice almost choking.

Realizing the truth, Gine hugged her son tightly.

"It's okay, it's okay, sweetheart." She shooshed him before he could start crying.

"I'm not mad. In fact I'm actually very proud of you." Gine said, surprising Kakarot. "You saved your friends and no one was hurt. That's all that matters." Gine said to him. She did genuinely feel happy that her son's first transformation was out of a noble purpose and helped save the world. Sure he lost his tail, but until it grew back he wouldn't have to worry about looking at the moon for awhile.

Kakarot hugged her back, "Thanks, Mom." He said gratefully, feeling his heart lift from realizing he wasn't in trouble.

They parted from their embrace and Kakarot dried up his tears.

"So when will you head to Master Roshi?" She asked, changing the subject.

"I'm thinking I'll leave tomorrow, unless you want me to stay." He offered.

Gine was proud he offered to help them out and stay. For an instant, she thought of telling him to stay, that his brief stint out into the world should be enough. Afterall he saved the world (which is something almost no one could ever say in a thousand lifetimes) and lost his tail, so it should be enough new good or bad experiences for him. But found that she couldn't do that. As much as she missed him and her apprehensions of the world, she wanted to not hinder his growth as a person.

"No, you can go train with him." Gine said at last.

"YAY! Thank you Mom!" Kakarot leapt into her embrace again. But she wasn't gonna let him go that easily.

"But promise me you come back right afterwards, alright?" She demanded.

"I will, I promise." Kakarot assured her.

* * *

They finished dinner and Kakarot helped them out with their chores for the night, before leaving in the morning to go train with Master Roshi. In the meantime, he told her more of his journey so she got a better idea of what he said earlier, she was really fascinated by it all. By how he made new friends and seen new places, and grasped the state of human affairs enough to try and fight against forces of evil from armies to demons to mobsters. It almost made her envy him to go out and see it herself someday.

Kakarot was drifting off before long so she helped him to bed. She hadn't felt so calm since she first got settled in on Earth, so happy that he was home, even if it was just for one night.

She and Gohan went to bed soon afterwards, but Gine didn't go to sleep.

A part of Kakarot's story she kept thinking about over and over was burning in her mind.

The dragonballs. They really DID grant wishes. It made her wonder, could this dragon really grant any kind of wish or were there limits? She still found it really hard to believe such a thing could exist, but still, her son never lied to her. Or at least, not lie very well. But she trusted his judgement enough that the wish-granting was legitimate.

If that was real, she wondered, what kind of wishes could be made? Wish for eternal life? Going back in time? Or...she dared to think, bring people back from the dead?

Kakarot fell asleep before she could ask more about what the dragonballs could do, but she could always ask him later. But a part of her didn't want to. The part of her that had long-since grieved for the loss of the other two Saiyans most important in her life. That pain never went away, but had lessened to an aching memory during her time on Earth. It would hurt her heart forever, but it was a pain that Gine learned she had the strength to live with.

But now, with even this newfound and unimaginable slight possibility she would never have dreamed of bringing them back somehow, she was afraid that if those questions were not answered as she hoped, she would grieve as if they had died all over again.

That night after everyone was asleep, Gine wept quietly in her bed. She cried like she did after they first arrived on Earth, but now it was not from grief but from fear. Fear of her heart being ripped open all over again, and losing whatever will she somehow gathered to keep going. So she decided against asking about what those dragonballs can really do.

She hoped that, if Kakarot ever asked her to help him find them, she could have the courage to say no.

* * *

 **A/N: Ah, now that Kakarot's life has changed forever with going on the grand adventure with Bulma, Gine's life might be turned upside down with her now knowing about the dragonballs. What will she do with this knowledge, how will she find out about what they are truly capibile of, and will she act on it?**

 **Find out next time on Dragonball Gine!**

 **Also, the first real change from MasakoX's story on Gine will take place in the next chapter also, since this will not be just a retelling of his series, but it's own original timeline.**

 **Hope you enjoyed it and see you in the next chapter!**


	5. CHAPTER 4: SOME KIND OF FOOD

**Hello, hello! Thank you so much for all the positive feedback and I'm so glad you all like this story so much. I look forward to keeping this up for you all!**

 **Speaking of which, this chapter will contain another change in Masako's story on Gine, about how a certain concept Kakarot had trouble grasping in the original timeline is explored but with his mother and Grandpa Gohan there to guide him this time. For it may have major consequences on certain important people he meets or interacts with. Will it work out for better or worse for our main characters? Let's find out!**

 **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.**

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.**

 **Please support the official release!**

 **Also, read and review!**

* * *

CHAPTER 4: SOME KIND OF FOOD

"But then I reminded him that he didn't have a nose! Then all of a sudden it's like he was never harmed by Bacterian!" Kakarot exclaimed, both his mother and grandfather burst out laughing.

"Well that's convenient!" Gine joked, finding the idea of her son's friend Krillin, who could smell a moment before, and then suddenly not due to his non-existent nose, absurd.

They all laughed heartily as they waited for the stove to warm up so they could cook some dinner. Kakarot had just returned an hour ago from his latest adventure. This time he was gone for almost half a year after training with Master Roshi and competing in some sort of martial arts tournament, as he was recounting to them now.

After they calmed down, "Then what?" Grandpa Gohan asked.

"He knocked him down and gave him a taste of his own medicine by farting in his face." Kakarot replied.

Gine and Gohan didn't laugh at that. He didn't have to tell them that gross little detail, but they supposed it worked for teaching that filthy slob a lesson.

"So he won that match?" Gohan said to cut that thought short.

"Yep. He won that and made it as far as the semi-finals."

"Who did he lose to?"

"Some really good fighter named Jackie Chun." Kakarot said.

"Ahh, so you encountered Mr. Chun?" Gohan said, sounding nostalgic.

"Yeah I did, you know him?" Kakarot asked.

"Oh we've meet before in previous tournaments."

Gine noticed a touch of slyness in Gohan's voice, as if he knew something they didn't. "Did you fight him in the finals?"

"We did! We went all out too, so I had to use every trick and technique Master Roshi ever taught me just to not get thrown out or beaten down."

"I bet you had to, he is one of the best fighters out there. He has a way of...putting you to the test."

To Gine it almost sounded like Gohan knew there was something about Mr. Chun that correlated with Roshi. And somehow should be kept secret. She'll ask him later.

"Yes he did, he was such a good fighter that I almost wanted to look up at the moon."

Gine turned toward him in alarm. "You weren't actually going to, were you?!"

Kakarot shrunk when he realized he shouldn't have said that. "N-no! I was tempted to since it would've been the only sure way to win, but...I know you said I never should. Plus there were people everywhere, so I didn't."

His mom looked him in the eye, as if searching that he was telling the truth. He was.

"That's very good, I'm glad you didn't." She said finally, and sipped her tea.

Gine really was glad he considered all this, but made a mental note to talk to him about never even _thinking_ about resorting to such a reckless tactic to win something trivial like a competition.

"Also, it would've felt like cheating. I wanted to win the tournament in a fair fight." Kakarot added.

"Now that is the philosophy of an honorable warrior." Gohan remarked.

Gine didn't entirely agree, for the Saiyan definition of "honor" was far more different than from what humans thought it was, then again it just meant winning a fight. If it was for the sake of fighting then yes, all for a good sport. But if your life depended on winning...

Another thought entered her mind, overtaking her last one.

"Hang on, how did you not look at the full moon? You had your shades on?" Gine asked.

"Yeah." Kakarot answered. Then perked up when he remembered. "Oh, and my tail grew back!"

He uncoiled his tail from his new orange gi and showed it to her.

"Excellent!" She said genuinely, then got back to her original question.

"So, you wore your shades on during the fight?"

"I did." He answered.

"So, how did you keep them on while getting punched in the face?"

Kakarot thought this over. "Well... Jackie Chun did accidentally knock off my glasses and I almost transformed."

Gine didn't realize she was holding her breath, almost afraid to hear what happened next.

"But I looked away as you always told me to do. Then, Chun gave them back to me so we could continue fighting. He also didn't try to hit me in the face afterwards. He was as courteous as he was strong."

"He certainly does sound like it..." Gine said, looking over to Gohan, who smiled back at her.

It seemed to click in place. Roshi was made aware of Kakarot's heritage and his Oozaru transformations. Could he be Chun? But, wouldn't Kakarot recognize it's him? So many questions...

"And after a final struggle, we were both down. I managed to get up before he did, but passed out." Kakarot said. "Chun got up and stayed up, so he won the title of championship." Kakarot said with some regret.

"You were that close, huh?" Gohan asked.

"Yeah..." Kakarot said as if looking out into the distance. "It was a very fun match...and I was THAT close to winning." he said, holding his thumb and finger close to emphasize.

"Well, you did manage to get up before he did once, and that's all that matters. It's something you should be very proud of Kakarot." Gohan said.

Kakarot looked into his tea and smiled. "Yeah, I am. And Master Roshi said as much also."

He looked up at them. "I'll beat him for real next time, though. Since I hope I can earn the championship someday."

"You will, I have no doubt about that." Gine said. She thought these competitions were silly but if Kakarot was having fun, then who was she to say so otherwise.

Anyways, she decided not to worry about it any more and told him to continue with recounting his adventures.

But she was in for more worry when Kakarot went on with how he single-handedly brought down a brutal military regime by fighting it all the way to it's headquarters in an icy tundra.

He was hesitant at first, but he said that he did indeed kill some soldiers, the Red Ribbon Army as they were called. But that these were very bad men who were murdering innocent people just to claim the dragonballs. He finished them off after defeating several robots and finally killing the leader, a man named General White.

It was a lot of story to take in, but the mention of Kakarot actually killing someone made a cold pit open in Gine's stomach. She knew that something like this would happen someday, that Kakarot would get a taste for taking a life one way or another. She hoped it would never happen, but it would be against his Saiyan nature to fight to the death no matter how much she nurtured him. She hated killing, even if she thought they were bad people deserving such a fate. She had seen and participated in far too much of it to take any positive attributions from it. And now her own son had actual blood on his hands.

But...(Even though she kept remembering that there was nothing good to the act of killing) at least the lives he took were those of evil doers. It was a sad solace to her heart, but she would take it.

Kakarot assured her that he never wants to kill anybody, but if they were evil he would stop them anyway he could, even if it meant deadly force. He even gave one of the robots he was fighting a chance to change their ways, and befriended it!

That made the cold pit in her go away in amazement, almost unbelieving at how he could turn a killing machine into a friend. Even more amazed that humans had the technology to create artificial versions of themselves to bridge the gap in power with a Saiyan.

But her son never lied to her, no matter how strange his tales may sound. This planet truly was full of surprises.

Gine said she was happy for him that he did that and gave that machine a chance at life. And the android, Eighter as Kakarot called him, could learn to live a normal life that his creater denied him.

She hoped he would.

Moving on to lighter details of his trip, he got to see where Bulma lived at West City, the awesome Capsule Corporation run by her father, and got to see Chi-chi again. They were now continuing their search for the dragonballs, and Kakarot was with Chi-chi just before he arrived, saying he wanted to go visit his mom and grandfather. And here they were.

"Can you come to the next tournament with me, Mom?" Kakarot asked when he was finished.

Gine looked uncomfortable. "Well...I don't know, I mean-"

"Aw, please!" Her son almost begged. "The Tournament is really fun! And I really wished you were there to see me fight!"

"I know you do sweetie. But...I don't want to fight other people." She said.

Kakarot could never understand this about his own mother. Why in the world would a Saiyan not want to continue fighting or training?

"But you and grandpa fight all the time, why don't you want to fight others?" He asked.

"Well...your grandpa is all I need to fight, and I'm happy with that." She said.

"Not unless you want to learn something new." Gohan commented.

Gine turned to him sharply. "I don't need to!" She didn't need him to argue against her.

She turned back to Kakarot. "Besides, there's work to do here. You may be lucky to go out on your own but we have chores here to do for the winter."

"You said that when I left to go train with Master Roshi, there aren't as many chores to do now that it's already winter." He complained.

She remembered that. Kakarot begged her before he left for her to go with him, but she couldn't bring herself to leave. She said she had a lot of work on the grounds to do to get ready before the snow came, but in reality she was just too scared to leave the place she called home for twelve years. She supposed she had gotten too used to the life of a hermit, but she felt set in her ways anyway.

"I know I said that, but...I-I just don't want to go, that's all." She said unconvincingly.

Kakarot looked puzzled. "But, why?"

"Because, well, as I said, your grandpa and I fight all the time. There's no need to fight others." She tried to say.

"I thought you said you had chores to do?" Gohan said slightly teasingly.

Gine looked at him with a slight twinge of anger. She loved Gohan for all he has done for them, for taking them in, being a father-figure to her and Kakarot for all these years, but she really didn't need him to try and push her out of her comfort zone. She found it silly really, how she talked about trying to get Kakarot to do the same not long ago, but now it seemed like the tables were turned on her.

She also tried to fight off the fear she felt that this might be his way of trying to end the Silent Agreement, as words of her venturing away from here were now getting tossed around.

She turned to Kakarot and said with as much a motherly commanding voice as she could:

"I'm not going, and that's final!." She said almost angrily, hoping to end it there.

Kakarot looked to the floor in utter defeat, his shoulders sagged and his eyes filled with sadness. Her sternness melted into guilt by just looking at him.

She really didn't want to disappoint him like this, but she couldn't bring herself to consider fighting in a silly competition. They all know she was the strongest person on the planet and she would easily win, so what would be the point if there wasn't a challenge? Plus, she was beyond uncomfortable with the idea of being around large crowds of other humans. Winning the title of champion would only bring her unwanted attention, she'd have no idea what to do...

"You could just go as a spectator, just to see what it's like." Gohan suggested.

She and Kakarot looked at him incredulously.

"Huh? Oh, yeah!" Her son agreed enthusiastically. "You don't have to fight, you could just watch!"

"Uhhh…." Gine said, still not sure.

She appreciated Gohan's ideas that took her insecurities and concerns into consideration. At least she won't be the center of attention, and just as a spectator. But still, that's a lot of people to be around, and Gine thought she'd lose it if she were.

"Pleeease…" Kakarot pleaded, his eyes wide and begging.

As Gine looked into his wide and innocent eyes, her resolve to protest him crumbled. Kakarot could be downright infuriating sometimes, but there was no doubt her love for her son overtook any reservations of trying to break his heart. How could she say no to her sweet little boy?

She sighed, finally caving in.

"Alright."

"YAY!" Kakarot almost leapt out of his seat.

But she lifted a finger up, "But only as a spectator. Don't sign me up to fight. Understand?"

Kakarot lifted his pinky. "Promise!" He said, then wrapped his pinky around her finger like a handshake. She was bemused by the gesture but took it as an agreement.

"You promise to come too?" He asked, not letting go of her finger yet.

"I promise." She said assuringly.

"Okay." Kakarot let go.

"Right then." Gine changed the topic and looked towards the stove, the water was now boiling in the cast-iron pot.

"Let's get dinner started, shall we?" She said as she got up to prepare some mixed vegetables for chopping.

Kakarot suddenly spoke up. "Can we have a marriage for dinner?"

It took a full five seconds for Gine to realize what he just said, then she looked back toward him dumbfounded.

"What?" Was all she could say.

"I said can we have a marriage for dinner?" He said again, as innocent as always.

Gine blinked, having no idea what to say still.

"What... did you mean by that, dear boy?" Gohan asked, just as bewildered.

"Well, I was just curious but what kind of food marriage was. I almost had a bit before I got here, so I thought if Mom could make some, whatever it is, we could try it." He said as if he was trying to explain a simple question, oblivious as to why his mother and grandfather looked weird at him.

Gine shook her head in disbelief. There was a lot to unpack with what he just said, he couldn't possibly be that ignorant. Could he? And he almost _had_ some?! What did that even mean?! Did he...

"Kakarot..." She began, thinking that she should figure out how this big misunderstanding took root. "Where did you hear that marriage was food?"

"Huh?" Kakarot said, sensing that there must be a problem from how his mother was reacting.

"It's not a food?"

She really shook her head now, "No, it isn't."

"Oh." He sounded slightly disappointed. "What is it then?"

Gine had no idea how he wasn't aware of this social union concept, but she guessed that they never had to covered it in his homeschooling since there wasn't any immediate need to.

Still, it would be better for him to learn about it now than in a more embarrassing situation.

"Uh, well it's when two people, namely a man and a woman, take each other to be their partners for the rest of their lives." She tried to put simply.

"Take each other to be partners?"

"Yes." She went on. "It means that they love each other very much and want to stay together forever."

Gohan picked up where Gine left off, "They have a big ceremony called a wedding where friends and family come to watch them commemorate the moment the man and woman declare their love for each other. Then they make a socially-binding pledge to spend the rest of their lives together, they become husband and wife respectively. That is what the saying 'to be married means'. Hence the word, marriage." He finished with a high note as if finishing one of his brilliant lectures.

"That's right." Gine agreed, grateful for Gohan helping her out.

"Ohhhhh." Kakarot took in this new information. "So when a man and woman loves each other very much, they get married by saying they want to be with each other forever?"

"Yes."

Kakarot thought for a moment, trying to wrap his mind around this concept. "But...does that mean any man and woman that says they love each other?"

"Well, no... I mean, they could." Gine tried to elaborate "Its supposed to be between people who are not blood related but are very, very close. Like they have a very powerful emotional bond with each other, as if they can't stand being apart from each other. So they make a promise to live together."

"Oh." Said Kakarot. "So, marriage means two people saying they love each other and end up living together?"

"Yes. Mainly unrelated people who want to be together to start a family." Gine said, glad she was able to get this new thing to him across and not mess up his first impression on how pair bonding works.

"Start a family?" He asked.

"Yes, people who want to be mothers and fathers together." She said.

"Mothers and fathers?"

She nodded, but then regretted it.

"Hmm." He held his chin thinking. She dreaded that he was going to ask how THAT worked. He may now finally grasp the basics of marriage but wasn't quite ready for that 'talk' yet.

"So, did you and my father get married?" He asked.

This caught her by surprise, and forgot about worrying about what he would've asked.

"Well... sort of." She said carefully.

"Sort of?"

"Yeah. Saiyans don't marry the same way humans do."

"In what way?"

 _In every way,_ she thought.

"Well, for one, they didn't call it marriage. It didn't even happen that much at all."

"Really?"

"Yep." Gine said.

Indeed marriage was a very rare thing in Saiyan society. Only the Super Elites and royal family practiced marriage, the general belief being that they were the only ones worthy enough to make it a holy declaration that they shall keep their bloodlines alive through each other.

"Saiyans didn't stick with partners, or even fall in love either. Only to become parents. And when the children are born, they went their separate ways." She said simply.

"Oh."

"It never ceases to amaze me how different Saiyans are from humans." Gohan said.

"Were." Gine corrected.

"So...you _didn't_ love my dad?" Kakarot asked.

"Oh no, absolutely I DID love him!" She said fiercely, trying to quell any doubt about that idea.

"We were more like an unofficial couple." She tried to explain.

"Unofficial?"

"Like it means we were kind of married, just that we were...not." She said, thinking her own answer sounded lame.

"How can you be married and not married at the same time?" Kakarot said, confused.

"Well, it's not that. Like I said, Saiyans didn't join together as humans do. But the important part was that we loved each other."

"But you said we Saiyans don't love each other's partners?" He pointed out.

"I know, and they didn't. But...I was the exception I guess."

She figured it was as much of a guess. All other Saiyans in the bottom of the caste like herself were as cold as they can be, and she never knew another as gentle as she was. She had thought this over all her life, and she still couldn't figure it out.

At least until she met Bardock. Sure, he was a stone-cold killer like any other warrior, but she saw something special in him that made her look up to him. And when she learned he did indeed have a soft spot, there was some good in other Saiyans afterall. Sure he never said he loved her out loud, but she knew he did in his heart somewhere, for he definitely stuck around much longer than any other Saiyan ever would. Almost un-Saiyan like.

"Exception...so, does that mean we are different? That I can stick around with whoever my partner is?" Kakarot said.

Gine forced herself to stop thinking about Bardock lest she risk getting upset in front of them, and smiled at her son.

"Yes, Kakarot, you can. You are far more kind and compassionate than any other Saiyan who has lived. I do hope you do find someone special to spend your life with and cherish, but you don't have to if you don't want to."

He took her words into consideration. Kakarot truly believed his mother was really wise and seemed to know him better than he knew himself.

But, another question came to mind.

"So, how do the husband and wife become moms and dads?"

His mother's face paled.

"Uh..."

Well, this was an already interesting evening with trying to correct the concept of marriage. But now she may have to explain the concept of copulation to her son so soon...

"So, where did you hear that you were supposed to get married?" Gohan asked.

Gine looked to Gohan confused, but thankful for the diversion from that awkward conversation.

Then she recalled that Kakarot did mention that he almost _had_ some marriage. However weird that sounded. Did that mean that...

She turned to her son. "Kakarot, did promise to someone that you'll marry them?"

Kakarot thought for a moment.

"Oh." He just remembered. Now that he knew what marriage really meant...

"What?" Gine asked.

"It's just that... I heard the word marriage from Chi-chi. I thought it meant that she was going to have some kind of feast or something with me for saving her village. But...I guess..."

 _Ah._ They thought together. Now they saw what the problem was.

"So...I'm supposed to spend the rest of my life with Chi-chi?" He said, the realization kicking in.

"I guess that's what she meant." Gohan said nonchalantly.

Gine wasn't so easy-going. Yeah, she wanted her son to find a mate and this Chi-chi sounded like a very nice girl from what she heard in his stories, especially that this girl was royalty in some way. But he was nowhere near ready to be wedded off this early in his life.

"Son, you made a big mistake."

"What am I going to do?" Kakarot said, looking worried. "I told her I would have that feast I thought she said it was when I went to go see her again."

"It's okay, sweetheart. We can sort this out." She said. "We'll just tell Chi-chi the truth."

"The truth?"

"Yes. You misunderstood what she said and tell her you are not going to marry her." Gine explained.

"Okay, but..." Kakarot started.

"But what?"

"But I promised her I would come back for that. I don't want to break a promise." He said.

Gine felt touched that her boy was such an honest soul. But a mistake was a mistake.

"You made a promise on something you didn't understand. You shouldn't have to fulfill it if you were mislead for any reason."

Kakarot thought about that. "I guess you're right."

"Okay then." Gine said, "When are you supposed to see her?"

"I'm not sure, I just told her that I will be back sometime."

"That's good, so not too much of a rush, but the sooner the better still." She said as she came up with a plan.

"We'll go see her tomorrow and set things straight with her." She said.

"Okay."

With everything settled, Gine turned back to go into the kitchen. She paused when she saw that the pot had stopped bubbling.

They had talked for so long that they had forgotten about dinner and all the water had boiled away. A good two hours gone for that.

"So, leftovers?"

* * *

The next morning after they were finished with their morning chores, Kakarot and Gine walked outside into the cold morning air.

He stood there waiting for her, and she felt slightly annoyed at how he seemed to be waiting for her to solve his problem. She also remembered that she was still trying to properly teach him how to fly so she wouldn't have to come along on a task like this.

"So where do I have to fly you to-"

"NIMBUS!" Kakarot called into the sky, cutting her off.

A few moments later, she heard the puut-puut sound as the yellow cloud came out of nowhere and stopped right in front of them.

Kakarot jumped on and glanced at his mother.

"Come on, Mom. Jump on!"

Gine starred at the yellow cloud and remembered something.

"Didn't you say you have to be pure of heart to ride this?"

"Yeah." Kakarot answered. "Why?"

Gine looked uncomfortable. "Well, I'm not sure if I'm..." She tried to repress the thoughts of all the things she felt didn't make her worthy of being called pure.

"Sure you are! You're my Mom. You have to be pure." He said plainly.

She felt warmed to her heart by his statement, but oh how little did he know her.

Aside from their heritage and family, Gine never talked to him much about her past and she hoped she never would as the painful memories of her serving as a planet-purging warrior still haunted her. Dozens of planets she helped conquer and millions of people she helped kill. There was nothing that will ever erase what she had did, even if she hated it.

"Just try it!" He said.

Not wanting to keep her son waiting, and scared of this out-of-nowhere memory ripping, she lept onto the cloud without thinking...

...and landed on the soft and fluffy cloud like it was a mattress. Her jaw dropped.

"See? That wasn't so bad." Her son beamed at her.

She couldn't believe it. How? How could she be considered good enough to ride a cloud that somehow knew if you were a good person or not?

"Alright, let's go!" Kakarot said as they took off, without letting her say anything.

The cloud picked up great speed, flying faster than even Gine could. Below them, the mountains and forest of Paozu she had grown used to receded behind them as they gave way to grasslands and a vast desert on the horizon.

They didn't talk as they flew since the wind was blasting past them loudly, so Gine was left to her thoughts. She was still struggling with the little revelation she was literally riding on. She was pure of heart afterall? Even after all of the horrible things she's done?

She couldn't believe it either way, but a small part of her felt a weight lifted from her soul. She may not have been a bad person afterall. But that would be for a higher power to decide, if there ever was one.

"Here we are!" Kakarot shouted over the wind.

Gine snapped out of her reverie and looked around. They must have flown for a little while since she didn't recognize this place at all. A single mountain jutting out of the desert, looking recently burnt but lush greenery was growing back on it.

Gine could see a village down below, dots that were people moving about. They all stopped and looked up at them as they flew over, then started waving and cheering. Gine felt a pang of anxiety take hold as she was already getting attention in a very unfamiliar place with unfamiliar people. Even if it was a small village like the one near Paozu she visited before, it still got to her nerves.

"KAKAROT!" A voice called out from below.

In the midst of the crowd, she spotted a towering hulk of a man she assumed was the Ox-king. Kakarot did mention that he was a giant, but didn't think a human could be that large.

Next to him was a young girl, probably as old as Kakarot. Clad only in a blue two-piece armored bikini, cape, and a pink bladed helmet, she was waving to them and called out to them again.

"That's Chi-chi?" She asked him.

"Yep."

She could at least be a bit more modest, Gine thought.

They made a slow arch on their descent and came to stop just a few feet off the ground in front of Chi-chi and her father.

After leaping off the Nimbus, Chi-chi gleefully ran up to Kakarot and hugged him, squeezing him tightly. The small crowd of villagers present cheered.

"I knew you'd come back!"

Kakarot tried to look pleased to see her, he looked anything but.

"Great to see you so soon again, Kakarot!" Ox-king said, coming up to them.

Chi-chi let go of Kakarot and held his hands, her smile so wide and full of joy.

"I'm so happy you came back so soon!" She said, then noticed Gine standing behind him.

"Oh, hello. Are you Kakarot's mother?"

Trying not to look too nervous in front of these strangers, she bowed politely. "Yes I am." Then extended her hand.

"My name is Gine."

"Hello, Gine. I'm Princess Chi-chi!" She said as she bowed in return and shook Gine's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Chi-chi. Kakarot has told me a lot about you."

Chi-chi waved dismissively. "Oh, please. The pleasure is all ours. My brave Kakarot here saved our kingdom twice already. He's my hero!" She said with hearts in her eyes.

Then Chi-chi turned towards the giant behind her.

"And this is my father, the Ox-King."

"It is a great honor to meet you, Gine." He said with a smile.

"Oh, well, thank you so much for that." She said cordially. Gine had never been welcomed with such high praise before, making her feel ever more awkward.

"Oh no, thank _you_. Without Kakarot our kingdom would've long been destroyed by the fire and the Red Ribbon Army. You should be very proud of your son, Gine, he is a brave young man." Ox-king said appraisingly.

Kakarot didn't like the spotlight he was in, shifting and looking away embarrassed. Gine felt his discomfort with being the center of attention amplifying her anxiety from being here, but she couldn't help but smile with pride at how humble he was acting while being hailed for his heroic deeds.

Ox-king continued. "We're so glad he came back so soon too, since Chi-chi here was anxious to marry him."

"And now that we are all here..." Chi-chi stepped in. "We can finally get this wedding underway!" She declared aloud, and all the villagers cheered.

Kakarot looked very uncomfortable now, and his mother even more so. She knew breaking to this lovely young girl that Kakarot couldn't marry her would be a difficult task for them, but would she really humiliate her in front of an audience including her own father? She almost wanted to just disappear. But, she knew what she had to do.

Gine cleared her throat. "Yeah, about that. I'm afraid there has been a misunderstanding." She started.

The villagers and Ox-king suddenly fell silent.

"I'm terribly sorry I have to say this but... my son cannot get married yet." She said, hoping to get to the point but added the 'yet' to soften the blow of such news.

"What?!" Chi-chi said in shock.

Gine felt all eyes were now boring in on them. Kakarot fidgeted nervously and she squeezed his shoulders reassuringly for him as well as her to keep her courage up.

"Kakarot cannot marry you today...I-it's a little embarrassing but, he misunderstood what you said about coming back to be married. He thought he would come back for a feast or something, rather than be wedded to you."

She gave Chi-chi a moment to process what she said, but it looked like her mind was fried at just hearing those words.

"I'm sorry for the mix up. I hope you understand that he cannot keep his pro-"

"IS THIS A JOKE?!" Chi-chi shouted at them, her face a mask of rage.

"HOW COULD YOU MAKE SUCH A PROMISE TO ME?! WERE YOU JUST BEING CRUEL?!" She yelled directly at Kakarot, who backed away fearfully. Gine knew this girl was just a weak human but her motherly instincts caused her to raise her guard for her son.

Gine figured this girl might take this news poorly with what her son told her of Chi-Chi's temper, but she was taken aback by seeing just how fearsome she was.

"I-I'm sorry Chi-chi. I wasn't being mean, I swear! I-I just thought marriage was some kind of food or something!" Kakarot tried to explain under Chi-Chi's terrifying glare.

"SOME...SOME KIND OF FOOD?!" She repeated, aghast. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WHO THINKS MARRIAGE MEANS FOOD?!"

Kakarot fumbled for something to say, his explanation only making her angrier.

"Really, I mean it! I-I just didn't know what that word meant until I asked my mom about it, that's all. But she's right, I can't...marry you yet."

"OH?! AND WHY IS THAT?! YOU OBVIOUSLY KNOW WHAT MARRIAGE MEANS NOW, SO WHY CAN'T YOU MARRY ME?! DON'T YOU LIKE ME?! OR IS IT BECAUSE YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT?!"

"NO!" Kakarot said indignantly. "I-I do like you! It's just that...I-uh...we're-"

"THEN WHAT?!" She shouted, too angry to wait for an answer. "THAT YOU REALLY ARE STUPID?!"

Gine stepped forward.

"HEY!" She shouted, startling Chi-chi as if she just realized Kakarot's mother was there.

"Don't you dare speak to my son like that!" She chastised her. Gine wasn't going to interrupt Kakarot trying to sort this out with Chi-chi, but had to put her foot down when she started disparaging him.

Chi-chi regained her wits and her gaze hardened at Gine. "WELL HE SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN SO DUMB AS TO NOT KNOW SOMETHING EVERYBODY ELSE DOES, AND PLAY TRICKS ON MY HEART!"

Gine was highly offended by her outburst, as if this little brat hadn't even listened to what she just said about not insulting her child. Both the Saiyan and motherly parts of her wanted to pound Chi-Chi into the ground, but she channeled whatever restraint she had left and addressed her calmly.

"My son is many things but he is not stupid, nor the kind of person who would play tricks. He is the kindest soul you would ever meet. Afterall, didn't he save your kingdom?" She reminded her.

Chi-Chi's expression softened a little, but still unbelieving.

"Yes he did." She said, at least acknowledging the truth of his good deeds.

She looked back towards Kakarot. "But... you really didn't know what marriage means?"

"No, I didn't" He said with as much honesty as he could.

Gine relaxed a little but remained stern. "I'm not sure if he told you but we live in a rather isolated place. He was born and raised there his whole life, and I home schooled him as best I could, but there are some customs in normal human society he has not yet learned about. And the concept of matrimony was one of them."

Chi-Chi's anger completely faded, she finally believed Gine and the anger was replaced with guilt and shame at what she had just said.

"Now I ask that you apologize to him." Gine ordered. "No one who is truly getting married should ever speak to a spouse the way you did."

That one sentence nearly crushed Chi-Chi's spirit, as all her features sagged and looked down. Shame overwhelmed her as she chewed on Gine's words. She was right. A loving wife would never even dare to dream of acting so horribly mean to her handsome husband.

She turned to Kakarot, but she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye. Her face hidden and tears threatening to fall.

"Kakarot….I'm..." She tried to force the words out, her throat choking up. "..I'm sorry I yelled at you. You didn't do anything wrong for not knowing what I wanted from you, and you don't have to marry me if you don't want to." Saying that last part made the tears fall. She was so looking forward to finally taking this young and handsome savior of her home as her future husband. But now...it was all for not.

Through this entire exchange, the villagers and the Ox-king stayed deathly quiet. He was ready to step in to defend Chi-chi if need be, but now disappointment took over his features as his daughter apologiezed to the boy who saved them. He was very sad she won't be marrying him afterall, but having known his daughter better than anybody, he did agree that her temper did get the better of her sometimes. A fiery young woman, just like her mother.

"It's okay, Chi-chi. I know you didn't mean to be mad." Kakarot said, being gentle.

Chi-chi wiped away her tears, "Thank you..." She took some comfort knowing that he didn't hold anything against her.

"It-It's just that I really liked you... and I wanted to get married soon."

"Guess you got too excited." Gine said. Kakarot loved his mother to death but something in him didn't care for her snide remark.

He felt guilty too. Despite trying to set things straight, he didn't mean to cause so much grief with Chi-chi. He really did like her, she was a great fighter and found her fiery spirit fascinating. Now it seemed like the friendship they made was over, especially since this was the first time he had to go back on a promise.

Even Gine felt a little bad seeing this young girl's dreams crumble, but it had to be done.

Then an idea came to Kakarot.

"Say, Chi-chi…" He started, which she looked up still teary eyed.

"Would you like to come look for the dragonballs with me?"

Both Chi-chi and Gine were caught off guard.

"R-really?" She asked.

"Yeah. Just because we can't get married now doesn't mean we can't go on an adventure, right?"

A few seconds passed, then Chi-chi squealed in delight. She charged Kakarot and clutched him in a very tight hug.

"Oh thank you, Kakarot, thank you thank you thank you!" She praised, oblivious to Kakarot almost choking from her grip.

The villagers were taken aback, but seeing their princess happy about something again made them applause. Ox-king was surprised as well, but decided to clap along as his daughter and Kakarot made peace.

Gine stood there not sure what to say or do. They came here to stop the wedding, and already he's backpedaling with this girl? She wasn't sure how Chi-chi could be as nice as Kakarot made her out to be in his stories. Gine was astonished at how Chi-chi could be so emotionally volatile, seeing her go from joy to rage to despair to joy again in a matter of minutes. She wasn't sure what Kakarot saw in Chi-chi, but she wasn't going to stop him since she's helped him enough already.

If he wanted to have her tag along on his adventures, then it was up to him.

After he made it clear that he was choking, Chi-chi let go of him, embarrassed.

"Sorry! Was just so happy!"

"I know you are." Kakarot said as he rubbed his neck.

"Well, we better go." Gine said, trying to put an end to whatever sabotage Kakarot was making on her efforts.

"Aw, really?" Chi-chi said with disappointment.

"Yes." She said firmly, not wanting to loose her patience with this girl or her son.

"I'm glad we got this sorted out." Ox-king decided to speak up, Gine didn't agree with these new developments but was glad they won't start a wedding right now.

"Me too." She bowed politely, "It was a pleasure to meet you, Ox-king."

"Oh, likewise!" He said in return, still hopeful that things will work out.

"Come on, Kakarot."

"Oh, alright." He said resignedly, then held Chi-Chi's hands.

"I'll come by to let you know when the quest starts."

Chi-chi was more than ready to accept, but stopped and looked at Gine frightfully.

"Is-are you okay with this, Gine?" She asked, as if by extension wanting her permission to court her son.

Gine couldn't fathom why Kakarot suddenly wanted to continue contact with this girl again. But as long as they weren't getting married now, then their job was done and they can do as they please short of making decisions they were too young for.

"Yes, I am okay with it."

"YAY!" She jumped with joy as if she had given her blessing, then turned to Kakarot alluringly.

"Then it's a date!" Chi-chi said, then kissed him on the cheek. He normally wouldn't be embarrassed by such things, but his cheeks flushed red. Not wanting to be kissed in front of his mom.

"I'll see you later then." He said, collecting himself, then hopped on the Flying Nimbus.

"See you soon, my hero!" Chi-chi called out from below as everyone cheered and faded into the background behind them.

On the ride home, they didn't talk for a good stretch of the way home until Gine broke the silence.

"Kakarot, why did you promise to meet her again?"

He looked over and smiled, "Because I didn't want her to feel bad, that's all."

Gine was confused, but then,

"You wanted to cheer her up?"

"Yeah!"

Gine thought for a moment, she didn't entirely like Chi-chi with the way she let her temper get the better of her. But she did have to admit that she had the fiery spirit that any Saiyan would find attractive in their counterpart sexes. Just like how Bardock first met her, so fiery in their arguments with each other turning into moments of passion. How could she have missed it?

But still, "You didn't have to do that, you know."

"I know..." He said, "...but I wanted to."

"It's because she's a great fighter, isn't she?"

Kakarot felt caught. "Yeah, she is."

Gine chuckled. Sure, Kakarot was a kind-hearted soul that didn't hold ill to almost anyone, but still was like any other Saiyan boy on the verge of manhood. They can't say no to a woman who would put up a good fight.

"Plus, she's the only other person pure of heart to ride the Nimbus." He said, patting said cloud. "She is a good person, Mom. No doubt about that."

Gine totally forgot that detail. Remembering that if she was good enough to ride it, then would she be too? This cloud really was the ultimate judge of character?

She guessed it was.

"Well, if you really like her that much, you two can get married someday if you want to like I said. But you should wait until you are older, and at least get to know each other better first."

It wasn't her giving her blessing for them to marry, but once he is old enough it will be a choice he has to make on his own.

"OKAY!" Kakarot said, and they continued on towards home.

Judging from his answer, she guessed the wedding won't have to be called off completely after all.

* * *

 **A/N: This one took me awhile to work so I hope it makes sense. I know a lot of you wanted Kakarot to end up with Bulma or someone else instead of Chi-chi, but hear me out. Now that the concept of marriage is no longer a mystery to a much sharper Kakarot in this timeline, things can go off to a much better start between them. And with Gine around, she can talk some sense into them so Chi-chi can learn to not be an abusive partner to Kakarot, and him on how not to be a deadbeat.**

 **So yeah I know some of you may be bumed that it seems the same as OTL, but a functional and actual loving relationship between them (unlike the story as it was written by Toriyama) is a drastic change that could still have consequences in this timeline, so don't give up just yet.**

 **See you next chapter when Gine actually decides to go along on one of his more fateful adventures!**


	6. CHAPTER 5: KEEPING A PROMISE

**Hello everyone! First off, let me say that I SINCERELY apologize for disappearing after the last chapter, with the holidays and some very heavy stuff happening in my personal life that needed my attention. But now I'm back, and I hope I didn't lose everyone from the last chapter, because here things start to pick up when Gine decides to make good on a promise she made with Kakarot on going to a fateful Martial Arts Tournament.**

 **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.**

 **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.**

 **Please support the official release!**

 **Also, read and review!**

* * *

CHAPTER 5: KEEPING A PROMISE

"Master Roshi told me to rely on my own strength, so I've been making my way around without the Nimbus to get ready for the next tournament. Running on foot across land and swimming across the sea."

Gohan was taken aback by how Kakarot had been able to pull off such feats just to prepare for a competition, but also not surprised as well, given his abilities.

"That's amazing my boy! You'll get stronger much faster that way, and pushing yourself with such handicaps is a good way to challenge your strength as a martial artist. Quite the Turtle Hermit way indeed."

He did have to inwardly chuckle at how literal Kakarot had taken his former master's philosophy on training as actual instructions. But he guessed for a Saiyan, it's probably the only way he'd get stronger anyway.

"Thanks Grandpa! I'm so glad I got to learn such ways to live by from Roshi, if there is no real challenge then it is not worthwhile!" Kakarot beamed happily.

Gine sat across the table and took another sip of her tea, she smiled genuinely.

"Me too son, I'm really glad you've taken these things to heart." She said, but she was somewhat distracted.

Kakarot had come back after another year of travelling. He had grown a couple inches taller and was more muscularly defined, on the brink of his growth spirt.

He told them all about his adventures of how he fought pirates at the bottom of the ocean, defeated the last remnants of the Red Ribbon Army, trained with a talking cat named Korin, meeting his master's sister who was a witch or fortuneteller of the like, saving villages from demons, and foiling con artists.

During all this, Kakarot took his mother's advice and brought Chi-chi along on his escapades. She was still sour about them not getting married, but from the way he described their time together on this trip they had grown closer. Trotting the globe doing something they actually enjoyed doing: fighting. Kakarot even said they made a date out of it once, since it was the most romantic thing he could think of when pried by Chi-chi. Through it all, he had grown to like her since she was a capable fighter unlike Bulma or another girl in their group named Launch, not to mention they were all older than him too.

Gine couldn't fathom why Kakarot could stand to be around someone as volatile like Chi-chi, for even she had a temper than rivalled some of the more ill-mannered female Saiyan warriors she once knew. But from how fond Kakarot described the way Chi-chi fought and how she saved his tail from being lost again to the Pilaf gang, there was a real bond growing between them.

But Gine focused on one story that Kakarot shared.

That they had used the dragonballs to wish his friend Upa's father back to life after he was murdered by the cruel Mercenary Tao. Gine was so proud of him for using the dragonballs for something so noble. But her heart stopped when she realized that he said he used the dragonballs to resurrect someone.

So it IS possible. Something that had plagued her mind and heart ever since they learned the truth of the dragonballs. A hope she never dared to entertain unless she knew for sure... Could she really-

"You ready to go to the tournament, Mom?" Kakarot interrupted.

Gine was shaken out of her fateful train of thought before she could finish it. Kakarot was starring at her expectantly.

"What? Tournament?" She asked, feeling a little guilty that she wasn't paying attention.

"Yeah, the 22nd World Martial Arts Touranament. You said you'll come along next time and it'll be in a few days, so I hope you're ready to since I'm supposed to swim all the way there as part of my training. You could fly or take the Nimbus though."

Gine thought for only a second or two.

"I'm not going."

"What?" Kakarot couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"I said I'm not going." Gine stated flatly.

"But...you promised!" Kakarot objected almost bewildered.

"I did?" She said just as bewildered.

"Yeah you did! You said you didn't want to fight but you'd come to watch instead."

"No I did-" She tried to say, but then thought about it. Gohan was about to confirm for her when she let out a sheepish "Oh."

She did indeed remember, but only vaguely. It was almost three years ago, and she mostly said it to please him. But now a promise she didn't mean to make had come back to haunt her.

"Yeah, you definitely did!" Kakarot reminded her. "You said you'll come to the tournament only to watch, but I would really like you to come along Mom!"

Gine considered it for a moment, but still felt resolute. She hadn't meant to mislead her son for something she wasn't serious about. But something in her made her ashamed and not wanting to look her son in the eye if she followed through on this.

"You promised." Kakarot reminded her one last time, his eyes wide and pleading.

Gine's resolution faltered. Who was she to break a promise to her own child? Sure the prospect of stepping out of the safe confines of the mountains into the crowded world terrified her, but she would do anything for her little boy, especially to cheer him on.

She let out a long sigh. "Okay, I'll go."

Kakarot jumped and cheered. "YAY!" While Kakarot celebrated and hugged her in many thanks, she tried to suppress the anxiety that was beginning to bubble up.

"I'll go with you too!" Gohan said, wrapping his arms around both of them. "It would be nice to see the big city and tournament again, as well as catch up with Roshi!"

"Yeah, it really will!" Kakarot chirped, getting even more excited and laughing with Grandpa Gohan. Gine let them bask in the anticipation while she left herself to resignation.

"Go get your things packed boy, we'll leave in the morning." Gohan instructed.

"You betchya, Grandpa!" Kakarot said, then ran enthusiastically to the room he was sleeping in. Gohan and Gine were left alone in the dining room.

"I hope it doesn't make you feel too uncomfortable." Gohan said, reading Gine's mind and trying to ease her worry.

"It does." She said simply. She really didn't want to go.

"That's the thing about your boy, there's no procrastination or going back with him." Gohan said.

"Very true, and I can't bring myself to break a promise." Gine admitted.

Gohan nodded. "An honorable thing to do my dear. I'll be there if it's any consolation, and it isn't as terrifying as you may think it to be."

"I know, it's just..." Gine tried to say, but couldn't find any words to fit her feelings.

"You haven't stepped out that often since helping Kakarot out with that girl." Gohan finished for her. Gine hated to admit it, but she was afraid of being around other people, so she nodded.

"Maybe it's time to step out a little further." Gohan encouraged. "As enlightening and fulfilling as the hermit life can be, our world has much to offer. Not to mention to see what's out there in order to fully appreciate why I like it here better."

Gine looked at him for a long moment. She never really thought of that idea, and it did make sense. How could she know what she liked most of this cozy place if she was missing out on other sights of Earth? Since this place was an unknown paradise to her once. The Info Dump on planet Vegeta never did justice to how peaceful this planet was, who knew what else was out there. And if Kakarot's experiences were anything to go by, untold wonders.

Besides, there are going to be some powerful new fighters at the tournament this year that could prove a challenge to Kakarot as they did before, so this silly tournament won't be too boring at all. And she could learn something from it too...

"I guess you are right." She said to herself more than to him, but Gohan smiled at how she came to this conclusion too.

"I'm glad you see it that way." He said as he got up and stretched. "I'll be turning in for the night."

"Okay" Gine nodded nervously, but Gohan walked up to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"It will be fine my dear, you have nothing to worry about. Afterall we are only rooting for your boy." Gohan said gently to her.

Gine looked back at him, tensed then exhaled some of her stress. She trusted him. He saved them. If what he says is true...

"I believe you." She said, squeezing his hand on her shoulder.

Gohan smiled brightly, then retreated to his room while Gine prepared to get ready for bed herself.

"Could be fun." She said to herself.

* * *

Two days later, they made it to Papaya Island. Kakarot swam the whole way while his mother flew over him and Gohan rode the Nimbus, stopping only to ask for directions from a very astonished crew of an oil tanker.

Now he was sprinting down the dirt roads into the streets of the town while she and Gohan flew above him, Kakarot clad only in the skins of a tiger killed while making landfall.

"C'mon, Mom, we have to hurry!" Kakarot shouted as if to get them to go faster. "Or else I won't be able to register!"

"Are you sure you don't want a lift with the Nimbus?" Grandpa Gohan playfully asked the obvious solution. The fact that the Nimbus and his mother flying had completely went over his head.

"No thanks!" Kakarot breathed while running as fast as he could. "No cheating!"

Gine really admired how much her son stuck to his training, but with how much he wanted to not miss this tournament he seemed to have reached an impasse.

"Right, then we have no time to lose!" Grandpa Gohan chuckled.

On the last long stretch of road lined with trees, they came across a red bricked wall and an archway with a small crowd of people. "HEY!" Kakarot called out. Up ahead an old man in a black suit and hat turned to them.

"There he is!" He called out, the rest of the group that Gine didn't recognize almost burst out cheering seeing her son. But she immediately recognized the blue haired girl as Bulma.

"HE MADE IT!" A blonde haired girl said, whom Gine thought looked awfully mean looking. Kakarot gave one last leap forward and closed the distance to the group in an instant.

"Hey everyone, long time no see!" He cheerfully greeted the group. As Gine and Gohan landed behind him, she took in the gathering of her son's friends as they started to catch-up with him.

These were people she had only heard of in his stories, fantastic recounting of all their adventures and misadventures. They way he described them made them seem like the best kind of people imaginable, but she figured that his naivety gave her the best version of them. Seeing them interact with him now like they were the best of friends somehow made them seem like as he told her. She felt so proud that her son found good comradery with these people, the company she never found amongst Saiyans in her old life.

"Have you gotten taller?" Asked a dashing young man with sun-scorched skin and flowing black hair.

"Sure have!" Kakarot answered. A short bald kid near him sulked. "But I'm older than you! This isn't right!" He complained.

"Calm down, Krillin, not by much he hasn't." The tanned man egged him.

"KAKAROT!" A shriek came out as Chi-chi lept out of the group and threw herself at Kakarot, hugging him tightly.

"Hey, Chi-chi!" He hugged back, but was straining to try and get himself free from her death grip.

Chi-chi sheepishly let go and stared longingly at him, she was clad in a blue fighting dress gi but still had her pink gloves and boots. She was fifteen now just like him, but an inch taller or so.

"Sorry, its just so good to see you again. I missed you so much." She said, swooning.

Kakarot rubbed the back of his head embarrassed. "Yeah, me too. Not since we took down Tao together."

"We? _I_ took him down after you kept him busy." She objected hotly, her swooning replaced with anger.

"But I did do all the work in weakening him." He retorted gently.

"And _I_ saved _YOUR_ tail, didn't I?!" She shot back, getting angrier.

Kakarot tried to calm her down, raising his hands defensively. "Yes! Yes you did. You saved the day!"

Chi-Chi's anger faded away instantly and she looked away shyly, "Aw, thank you! It wasn't anything."

"It sure was!" Kakarot said enthusiastically. "You kicked Tao's butt something fierce! I didn't know you could do energy attacks too."

"Of course I can!" Chi-chi got angry again, "How could you forget about my laser helmet?"

Gine just quietly observed them playfully retorting back and forward, bemused at why Kakarot choose to continue seeing this girl given how much of a pain she was. But she could see the fire in her eyes, she would've made a great Saiyan warrior.

Gine turned to the clock and saw that it was closing time. "Uh, Kakarot." She got his attention, "Aren't you going to register?"

That stopped the little argument. "Oh, right!" Kakarot turned and ran up to the registration desk, "Hello, sorry I'm late, but I'd like to register to fight in the tournament."

The clerk was looking very impatient, with this last minute entry literally taking place the moment he was supposed to close the booth, but acted civil. "Very well then, your name?"

"Son Kakarot." Her son replied.

"Ah, back to take the gold this time?" The clerk asked as he copied down the information.

"You bet! I'm gonna beat Jackie Chun this time!" Kakarot beamed confidently.

"Well I wish you the best." He stamped the form. "Okay, Son Kakarot, you are all set to compete."

"Alright!" Kakarot lept with victory.

"Kakarot." Said the elderly man. Gine noticed his long white beard and that he was wearing the exact same shades Gohan gave them to look at the moon with. So this is where he got them. This must be Master Roshi.

"You look awfully winded for someone who flies a cloud. Why weren't you using the nimbus and why are you late?" Roshi said as Kakarot finished signing in.

Kakarot looked confused by his outburst. "But Master, you said I shouldn't bring the nimbus cloud and should rely on my own strength."

Roshi looked embarrassed for moment. "Huh. That I did say."

"Wait a minute." Said the talking pig Gine assumed was Oolong. "Are you saying you swam here?"

"Yeah, part of the way. From a place called Yahhoi." Kakarot said innocently.

Everyone looked dumbstruck at her son.

"But..." Bulma stammered. "But that's on the other side of the Earth!"

Gine couldn't help but smile, feeling a sense of accomplishment in how her son was able to amaze everyone, but replaced it with humility remembering that humans couldn't do the same feats as she or Kakarot could, so no contest there.

It was then that she decided to speak up to stand by her son. "It's true, I flew over him the whole way as he swam."

Everyone looked at her, the shock deepening in their looks. She suddenly regretted speaking up, not wanting the attention on her.

"The scariest part is I believe you." Oolong spoke first, then stopped. "Wait, who are you?"

"Good to see you again, Gine." Chi-chi said cordially to her, but there was a coolness in her voice that Gine noticed.

"Gine?" Bulma's face contorted to something of faint recognition, then lit up once it hit her. "Hey, I remember you!"

"Oh! Everyone…" Kakarot turned and gestured towards Gine. "...This is my mom."

Not wanting to show how anxious she was, she gave a bow to them.

"It's nice to meet you all. Kakarot here has told me so much about all of you." She said politely.

"Hopefully good things! Am I right, Krillin?" The tanned young man said slyly while the bald kid, Krillin, gave him a 'shut up' look.

"Oh hush, Yamcha!" Bulma playfully slapped the tanned man, and turned toward her. "It's good to see you again, Gine. It's been a very long time."

"Indeed it has." Gine said as she shook Bulma's hand.

"Did you get your lifetime supply of strawberries?" Gohan asked.

"My what?" Bulma looked over, confused, then blushed. "Oh uh, well, that didn't-"

"I'm only kidding, Kakarot told us all about your wild adventure for the dragonballs."

"About how I was the one who saved the world?" Oolong quipped.

"Yep, that too. Still don't know why you wished for panties though." Kakarot said aloud.

Everyone laughed hard at Kakarot's innocent remark.

"It worked! Didn't it?" Oolong defended himself.

"Yeah it did, being a perv saved the world, who would've thunk." Bulma said.

"And besides, you got what you wished for in the end." The tall young man, Yamcha, pulled Bulma close and she blushed, feeling at ease immediately in his embrace. Gine figured Bulma's true intentions with the dragonballs were different from what Kakarot relayed, but didn't know what exactly until she saw it now. These two definitely had chemistry.

Yamcha extended his hand to Gine's and shook it, "It's a pleasure to meet you ma'am."

"Likewise." She said. "You must be Yamcha."

"Indeed I am, the fearsome desert bandit and friend to Kakarot!" He declared in a boosting voice, puffing his chest in a heroic pose that made him look oafish.

"But nowhere as much of a REAL friend besides me!" Piped Krillin.

"And you must be Krillin." Gine said, bending down and offering her hand that he shook. His stature was as small as Kakarot's, and he had a mischievous but kind look to him.

"That's right! Kakarot and I trained really hard together with Master Roshi for the first tournament."

"And trained hard they did." Said Roshi as he came up to them.

Gine bowed respectfully, "It's an honor to meet you, Master Roshi."

Roshi returned the bow. "The pleasure's all mine, Gine." He smiled then shook her hand. "Your son is an amazing student." He said.

"Aside from me of course?" Gohan chided, causing Roshi to notice his former pupil.

"Gohan!" Roshi perked in joy.

"It's good to see you again, Master." Gohan bowed.

"I see that the years have been treating you nicely."

"Oh, I'm still hanging in there for someone my age. Of course, the years are always kind to you."

"Oh definitely."

Gine did wonder. This old man was Gohan's master since he was a boy? Gohan looked to be older than him, so how could this guy have been his master? Either he had a very youthful vigor, or he was immortal.

"So, how've you been? It's been years since I've last seen you."

"Been doing very well, I've managed to live quite a peaceful life even with these two dropping out of the sky." Gohan said, emphasizing the last part.

Gine felt panic rising. Was he really going to tell them that they were from another planet?

Roshi leaned closer to her and whispered, "No need to worry, Gine. I already know the whole story of you and your son. And it's not one I or anyone here will be broadcasting to anyone else anytime soon."

Gine felt very grateful at that. She was told this man was a pervert, but she could tell that he was also very wise and kind.

"Thank you." She said to him.

"No worries, my dear. Now, lets meet the rest of the gan-"

"Come out of your shell at last, Roshi?" Came another voice.

They all turned to see a trio of men lead by a green robed old man standing before them. Gine sensed the calm and easy-going Roshi tense into something serious as soon as he laid eyes on him.

Gine looked him over, her Saiyan and overprotective maternal instincts assessing this new threat. Whoever he was, he was no friend to Roshi. He wore a ridiculous swan hat and pointed grey mustaches that looked more silly than intimidating. She sensed arrogance dripping from him.

A tall bald man behind him had a third eye in his forehead, and looked nothing short of cold-blooded. And the shortest of the trio, a dwarf or child, whose skin was as white as snow with red cheeks. But he looked so lifeless and still.

"Crane, amazed that you are still alive." Roshi said to him, his cheery demeanor gone and replaced with contempt.

The man Roshi called Crane chuckled evilly. "The lines on your face are just as deep, old friend."

"That was rude." Bulma remarked.

Kakarot stared Crane down from behind Roshi and Gine, sensing the bad energy coming from him and readying himself for a fight.

"Relax, I'm not here to start trouble, I hear a little whisper that your pupils did quite well last time. I guess the saying is true, "anything can happen.""

"What's it to you, huh?!" Roshi yelled impatiently.

Crane laughed maniacally, "You're out of your league, Roshi, admit it. You were blessed by my absence last time, but we both know that fighting against my team is an exercise in futility. Not even Jackie Chun could handle my boys! Do yourself a favor and go home."

The bald three-eyed man grinned threateningly behind his master, the doll-like boy stood still expressionless. Gine wondered if he actually _was_ a doll.

Crane looked over all of them and continued his abuse, "I sympathize with your crew, I really do. Inadequacy is always such a tough pill to swallow, but it sure beats public humiliation."

Gine knew that this little man could not physically harm her or any of them, but the sheer disrespect he was showing to her son and his friends almost made her Saiyan senses tell her to kick his head clean off his shoulders.

"Thanks for the concern." Roshi interrupted. "It's nice to see some things haven't changed. Like you're still full of hot air."

Crane's façade of cool arrogance quickly gave way to anger.

"You better stay out of my way!"

"We're not turning tail for you or anyone!" Roshi countered.

The two of them stared each other off, their respective students ready behind them to back their masters up.

Crane huffed and backed off.

"You've been warned, now suffer the consequences!" He said as he turned around.

"Lets go," He called to his accomplices. "I've wasted enough time with these fools." They complied and followed after him without saying a word.

"Um, Master Roshi, who was that weirdo?" Yamcha asked.

"His name is Master Shen, but there was a time I used to call him my friend." Roshi spat bitterly.

"You never mentioned him before." Gohan said, even he looked surprised given how considerate he was of others.

"No reason to after he turned his back on me." Roshi said, still not losing sight of where Shen left. Then turned around.

"But still, no reason to dwell on the past." He said, back in his cheerful mood. "The important is that Kakarot is here with all of us. So let's all meet the rest of the gang, shall we?" He said, picking up from where he left off earlier.

So they all exchanged pleasantries, the episode with Shen already forgotten and with Gine officially introduced to everyone in the gang after shaking hands with Yamcha's shape-shifting cat Puar, Roshi's talking turtle, and the other human female of the group, Launch. Over the course of their conversations she got to learn more of her son's friends as people as all the details of what he told her fell into place. The way they were friends with Kakarot, and how among almost all of them used to be people with not-so-good intentions. Now, they were a sort of tight-knit group of compadres.

They already knew about her and Kakarot's Saiyan heritage, with him having blurted about it and having them coming to accept it with seeing the way he is. Gine forgot that she never got around to telling Kakarot to never tell anyone, even his own friends, about them lest they draw unwanted attention; but they all agreed to not tell other people out of respect for the family. Bulma however was curious about Saiyan technology, and was the only one to ask Gine serious questions but Gohan thankfully answered for her when she felt too uncomfortable.

Gine was touched by how she was immediately accepted as if she were one of them already. Her son was such a good friend to all of them that they accepted him and her without question. Although she had just met them, she really started to feel at ease with them. She never would've thought something like this to be possible, as she never had anything this close with anyone back on planet Vegeta. Even when she was with Bardock's crew. This world truly was full of wonders.

The only exception was Chi-chi, who wasn't so warm to her as everyone else. Her father couldn't come to the tournament since he had to watch over the kingdom so it's just her. She didn't really get over having her plans of early marriage to Kakarot undone by Gine. To be fair Gine didn't like her too much either, but decided not to dwell on that and accept her relationship with her son, and how happy it seemed to make him.

"Now that we are all acquainted again..." Roshi stated, "I suggest we all go get a bite to eat before the big fight!" At the thought of food, Kakarot leapt as excited as he can be. Everyone else was excited too, even Gine since no matter how dignified she made herself to be, a Saiyan never turned down a good meal.

"They don't come any bigger than the World Martial Arts Tournament so lets get the best in town!" Roshi declared, and everyone headed off toward town, Kakarot declaring he'll eat until he burst. Knowing him he probably just might do that. None of them noticed Roshi looking sheepish as he realized he didn't have any money...

* * *

The following morning Gine was on edge. She did not get much sleep the night before with so many things taking her mind from any place of peace. She spent a good portion of the night trying to ward off Roshi from the girl's room while fighting off how much she overate at dinner (who would've thought THAT would happen, the food on this planet was SOOO good) and getting used to sleeping in a hotel. Not that she had never done before, for her time in the Frieza Forces she shared quarters with countless other warriors. But today she was not feeling good at all. She wasn't sure how, but knew there was something off about this day and it wasn't just her lack of good sleep...

Roshi disappeared as they entered the tournament grounds, said he had to go "do something." Gohan quietly confirmed to her that its to change into Jackie Chun. She immediately knew not to tell anyone.

 **"Ladies and gentlemen!"** Came an announcement over the ground's PA system.

 **"Welcome to the Twenty-Second World Martial Arts Tournament!"** The entire place erupted into cheering. Gine winced at the sound, the sheer volume of people and noise in one place almost overwhelmed her. Not even Planet Vegeta on it's last day with everyone back home was this crowded. Nothing could've prepared her for this, and with how tired and on edge she felt, she wanted to go home now.

The announcer came on again **"For all fighters participating, the preliminary matches will take place inside the main building in five minutes, so please report in soon!"**

"Alright mom, this is it! I'll see you when this is over!" Kakarot said as he clasped her hand, not noticing it was trembling.

Gine snapped out of the bombardment of noise for a moment when her son hugged her. Remembering what she was here for, she let that be the force to help her through the fear of being here. She hugged him tightly before he ran off with Krillin and Yamcha.

"Good luck!" She called out before he disappeared into the crowd entering the building.

She was here for her son, and she will cheer him on no matter what.

* * *

 **And there we go, Gine is formally introduced to the gang and gets to step out into the world!**

 **Next chapter: the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament!**


	7. CHAPTER 6: BREAK A LEG!

**Hello again!** ** **Sorry for the long wait as life has a habit of getting in the way, but here is a nice long series of chapters I worked on at once to make up for it! Now Gine is in for a little culture shock and how events of the Tien Shinhan Saga play out!****

 ** **And for those that keep asking for hints about what's gonna happen next in the story: sorry, but no spoilers!****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series**** ** _ **"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"**_** ** **, but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 6: BREAK A LEG!

"First match should be starting now." Oolong mentioned to a worried Bulma while he tried his hand at a vendor game.

"I just hope they get through it in one piece." She replied, her thoughts wondering towards her friends and the one she cared most about up against so many strange and scary fighters from all over the world. Over a hundred of them against her four friends, so many odds to get through, especially for Yamcha despite her confidence in him.

"Don't worry Bulma, Yamcha and the others will be just fine. They know what they are doing, honest!" Puar reassured, holding a drink as big as her.

"I sure hope you're right." Bulma sighed.

The gang had stopped by the food court to get something to eat while they waited for the preliminaries to finish up. Gine sat down with Gohan beside her and tried to focus on eating her food to take her mind and senses off of the masses of humanity around her. That and her lack of good sleep from the night before had her on edge.

She bit into a piece of breaded meat she had never seen before, the taste of acidic juices and unfamiliar tomato sauces took her aback after that one bite.

"What is this again?" She asked aloud.

"A hot dog." Replied Launch in her blonde form, she looked bored out of her mind from just waiting there. "Ya never had one before?"

"No, I haven't." Gine replied, unsure if that was a custom to know what this link of meat in bread was.

Launch starred at her for moment longer as if studying her. "Huh, first time for everything I guess." She said, and went back into starring into the distance.

Gine tried to keep eating, hoping she hadn't embarrassed herself for not knowing these things. Sure they were her son's friends, but Kakarot and her were not like them at all and garnered strange looks every now and then. Launch seemed like a nice girl, when she was her docile self and not her "blonde" self as everyone said to her clandestinely. She finished the hot dog. She thought to herself that the food here wasn't as good as the homecooked meals they made back home, but found it rather soothing in a place like this.

Trying to stay occupied less she be overstimulated by the constant drone of the people, she took in the surroundings. She had to admit that the change in scenery from vast unending forests and mountains to a very festive gathering of harmless humans seems to have some charm to it. But still...

"A little overwhelming isn't it?" Gohan asked her.

Gine could only nod as if he had read her thoughts. She had been on edge ever since they got up. "I can see just one thing that's enough to drive anyone out into the mountains." She said ryly.

Gohan nodded in agreement. "Though the World Martial Arts Tournament is a grand event to test out your skills in combat, the crowds can definitely get to you as they come from the world of non-fighters. They are just here for the entertainment rather than to learn. If it was just to be with like-minded folks then it would be more bearable."

Gine surveyed the crowd, seeing children begging parents for sweets, overly-fat men stuffing their faces with food, and rowdy types getting drunk on whatever humans pass here for alcohol. "I can definitely see why, too."

"So, where did that imbecile Turtle Hermit run off to?" Cackled a familiar voice approaching them, they all turned and saw who it was.

Gine groaned inwardly. It was that impudent little old man who called himself Master Shen or Crane, but came off as nothing more than an agitating nuisance rather than a Master of Martial Arts.

"In the ocean." Bulma shot at him. "Why don't you go jump in and find him?"

Crane hmphed. "Knowing him, he probrably ran back home too embarrassed to watch his ill-advised pupils get crushed in the tournament." He laughed to himself.

"Oh be quiet" Bulma demanded angrily.

Crane stepped closer to her. "It's common knowledge. Roshi's boys can be beaten with one pinky."

Oolong and Puar gawked at him, in amazement and a twinge of fear as they believed him. Gine didn't, if anything she felt no respect for the man whatsoever.

Bulma stood her ground, "You're misinformed. Now please, leave me alone. Go!"

Crane ignored her. "I can tell by your posture that you're upset. It's tough to back a loser. Cheer up! You don't have to stay with Roshi's team. I could use someone like you."

Gine's tail twitched under her skirt, she couldn't get any more revolted from him. He reminded her all too well of the Saiyan Elites back on planet Vegeta that acted just like him, complete bullies to everyone around them and especially to those below their ranks, like her. They were the same kinds of people that pounded into her verbally, psychologically, and even physically that she was utter trash compared to them. Nothing even worthy of being scraped off their boots. The kind of torment and social ranking that cemented her in her place as the lowest of the lower classes her whole life as dictated Saiyan society, no matter how much she hated it.

But this wasn't planet Vegeta. This man had no right to harass her and her friends in such a way. And she wasn't going to let him dish out anymore verbal abuse to them. Gine knew she was far stronger than anybody present, and her Saiyan instincts were beginning to tell her to grind this insolent little Crane into a bloody smear on the ground to teach him some manners. And that thought was getting more tempting by the moment...

Gohan suddenly put a hand on hers. She snapped out of her reverie and looked at him. Without realizing it Gine had rose from her seat, but was stopped by his contact with her and Gohan shook his head discreetly at her to tell her to not act out.

"I can't believe I'm listening to you. You're wearing a crane!" Bulma continued to argue, her voice laced with disgust.

Crane feigned offense. "What?! What?! I can't believe you're mocking me. This happens to show the status of my power!"

Gine didn't know what to feel at that moment, anger at Gohan for stopping her from defending their friends or grateful for him preventing her from making a scene? Either way, she hesitantly let it go and sat back down.

"Sorry." She whispered as softly as she could to him. He squeezed her hand gently in acknowledgement. Gine mentally tried some breathing exercises Gohan had taught her to help herself calm down.

Crane looked over Gine, not giving her a moment's thought, and looked at Launch who seemed to have dozed off.

"Hey lady! Are you awake or what?!"

She didn't respond, and he stares at her breasts. "Ma'am? Hello?"

Launch suddenly woke up, enraged and somehow wielding a submachine gun.

"CAN'T A GIRL GET A MOMENTS REST?!" She yelled, and fired at Crane. It took a few seconds to empty the clip, but Crane's arms flew into a blur as he caught every single bullet effortlessly.

Launch starred him down still fearless. Gine and Gohan can do feats like this and were unimpressed. But everyone else looked at him slack-jawed in disbelief.

"Give Master Roshi this message..." Crane arrogantly ordered as he drops the bullets he caught to drive his point home. "He can best help his pupils by preparing for their funerals!" He then turned and walked away without another word.

They all sat there, unsure of what just happened. Bulma broke the silence.

"And I thought Roshi was bad!"

Gohan looked slightly indignified. "My master may be a bit perverse but never treated people with disrespect and threats."

"True that." Turtle spoke up.

Gine let go of a breathe she didn't realize she was holding in from her exercises, and unclenched her fists that she so desperately wanted to drive through Crane's stupid face after mocking them for nothing.

 _Off to a great start this tournament is._ She thought to herself.

* * *

It took another two hours for the preliminaries to be over with and Kakarot rejoined them along with Krillin, Yamcha, and Chi-chi. They all breezed through the elimination round with no trouble and are ready for the main event. And it's about time too, after the incident earlier with Crane, Gine wasn't sure how to distract herself with the already overwhelming sensations of being in a strange place with large crowds.

She tried her hand at some of the vendor games for a little while with Oolong and Puar, winning lots of (quite frankly) pointless prizes meant for children. But she partook in it anyway to play along with her friends to make them happy and have a good time. But after a while she was getting bored out of her mind with such trivial play, even after seeing Launch shoot up a vendor. At least SHE was having fun.

"That's great! I'm impressed guys! I guess you did learn a thing or two from Master Roshi afterall." Bulma said, scarfing down a sugary snack. Gine tried some more of the food and found that the sweets were very delicious indeed, but too much so and couldn't eat them as much as the rest of them did.

Krillin looked around. "Speaking of Master Roshi, where is he?"

"I haven't seen him since it started."

"Wherever he is, I'm sure there's trouble." Said Turtle.

Bulma smirked. "It's kind of nice. I need a break from the old man every now and then."

"I'll tell you what you need. A napkin." Said Roshi out of nowhere and surprising everyone.

"And for your information, I've been hiding amongst the crowds, watching the elimination round. I come here to see my boys fight, not stuff my face with sweets!"

"So, did you like what you saw?" Krillin asked his master.

"Mhm, from what I witnessed, I'd say all three of you-"

"Three? HEY! What about me?!" Chi-chi indignantly.

"I'm sorry, all four of you have improved a great deal." Roshi said, flustered. "I think we have a strong shot of winning this title."

"Don't worry Master, we'll win!" Said Kakarot with such fire in his voice. Then the announcement came.

 **"THE CHAMPIONSHIP IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. WILL ALL COMPETITORS PLEASE REPORT TO THE TEMPLE AT THIS TIME?"**

Bulma and Yamcha exchanged glances and hugged. "Good luck out there, baby." She whispered, Yamcha winked.

"SEE YOU MOM, SEE YOU GRANDPA!" Kakarot called out as he left for the temple. "Good luck!" They called back.

"It's on guys! Maybe the rest of you can find a good place to catch the action." Krillin said.

Oolong looked sly. "With Launch here, anything is possible. She's good at making room." Then gestured towards her.

"Follow me boys and girls. My friend and I will find you the best seats in the house!" Launch declared as she pulled out her pistol. Everyone in sight of her, the gang included, was horrified.

"ALRIGHT PEOPLE, LISTEN UP! I want this path cleared out on the double!" Launch barked at the crowd around them and fired her gun in the air as well. "Lets go! Move it!"

Everyone fled as they marched toward the arena. Gine was too embarrassed and kept her head low. Did Launch not known un-excessive measures at all?!

At the arena itself, Gine was astonished by the sheer number of people packed into one place to watch someone fight. Never in her life had she seen so many live bodies at once, not even the entire population of planet Vegeta on its last days where every Saiyan was recalled. Her hyper-tuned Saiyan senses were overwhelmed by the vast overlapping sounds and scents of so many varieties of people here. She suddenly felt a wave of anxiety and panic overtake her. She didn't want to be there, but far away in the mountains back in their cozy little home on Paozu. Right now.

She held Gohan's hand even though she was eager to sprint the rest of the way to the arena. She was glad he didn't notice her hands were shaking.

Gine set aside her thoughts of wanting to go home as best she could, for she wasn't about to run away from this just because she had gotten too used to living in isolation from the rest of humanity for too long. She was there to cheer her son on, and by the Gods that's what she was going to do.

Roshi had slipped away quietly from them as everyone gathered by the ring. Gine didn't say anything and pretended not to look as he went off to go change into Jackie Chun.

The rest of the gang took notice and sent Oolong and Puar out to search for Roshi, eventually coming back without him and Oolong battered for looking into the women's bathroom.

"What if Master Roshi isn't hiding? I wonder if something bad happened to him?" Launch asked, back to her peaceful self.

"Hello ladies." Came that loathsome familiar voice of Crane. Gine immediately forgot her anxiety of being there and looked toward where Crane's voice came from. She saw his crane hat poking above the crowd like a swan on water. Gine would've found it funny if it weren't for Crane.

"I heard you lost a turtle in the crowd. I Hope I didn't step on him." He mocked.

Bulma glared at him. "If that was an attempt at some cleverly veiled threat, you failed miserably! You'd better not have anything to do with this!"

"Hmph! I'm in the dark the same as you." Crane admitted.

Ooolong crossed his arms, the bruises he sustained for peeking flared up in pain. "I'm sick of looking, I'm staying."

Crane looked at Oolong in mock pity. "Come on, life's too short to be sour. I'll find him for you."

Huh? They all look at him and at each other amazed. But Crane walked off before anybody could say anything.

Gine looked at where Crane went, and turned to Gohan. "What's with that guy?" She asked.

Gohan shook his head woefully. "I have no idea. Master Roshi never mentioned he had a friend like him before. But I guess I can see why he would never talk about him."

"With the way he acts, I bet." Gine commented, then she looked out onto the elevated square slab of white tiles that served as the ring. "Hey, look." She pointed.

The tournament staff wheeled out the roster for the finalists who were going to fight in the tournament itself. They scanned the lettering from their first row seats and read the fighting order.

First match will be Yamcha against someone named Tien Shinhan, then the second match was Pampet against Jackie Chun, the third was Krillin against Chiaotzu, and finally the last fight was Kakarot against Chi-chi.

"Only three strangers for our five friends to get through." Gohan said as he read the roster. "Guess one or more of them will have to fight each other, so this should be interesting."

A buzz grew in the air as the last of the spectators came into the arena, with the roster now visible for everyone they knew the first fight was drawing near.

"Quite a crowd." Turtle observed, Oolong snorted.

"Yeah, and Roshi's hiding in it somewhere."

Bulma looked confused. "It doesn't make any sense for Roshi to hide from us."

"That's true. Especially when Launch got us such great seats!" Puar added.

"Huh? I did?" Launch asked innocently.

No one answered, and looked somewhat nervous. Now this was something Gine was rather curious about.

"Yeah you did." Gine spoke up. "You fired a gun in the air to scare people out of our way to get here."

Launch looked surprised. "I did that?" She looked down at herself, as if unbelieving she could act so tough. "I don't understand. How is that even possible? I don't even like guns!"

Everyone stared at her scared while Gine looked as confused as Launch.

"Could've fooled me." Oolong said to himself.

Gine pressed further. "You don't really remember? While you were blonde?"

"Err, while I was blonde?"

Gine wasn't sure why Launch could not even know her own hair color. "Yes, your hair turned blonde and you had guns on you until you sneezed and returned to your peaceful self."

"When I sneezed?"

Everyone shrieked in horror, Bulma was trying to motion Gine to quit before she accidentally set off Launch to change.

Launch looked thoughtful. "I guess... that makes sense, I always seemed to feel like I've blacked out whenever that happens and end up in bizzare situations."

"And no one's told you this?" Gine asked.

"No."

Gine looked at her with a new sense of understanding of Launch, and then a new sense of disappointment at how her own friends could take advantage of her like that.

"Thank you, Launch." Gine said, deciding to end her line of curiosity there and let Launch digest that new revelation of herself on her own. Gine glanced at Bulma disgracefully and knowingly, for she had an idea that Bulma, as sweet and sincere she may be, was not above exploiting others. But Gine kept those thoughts to herself.

Bulma guiltily tried to distract everyone from that and herself. "Oolong, can you do us a favor and go take another look for Roshi."

"Aw, but the match is just about to start!" The pig complained.

"Don't worry." Crane suddenly spoke up from behind them. Gine whipped around at him, startled. She was starting to get really infuriated by his sudden appearances as much as with his ridiculing.

"I'm handling it. In fact, I just spoke with the sponser." He said.

"What did you do?" Bulma asked, unsure.

Crane chuckled in reply as an announcement came on the tournament ground's PA system.

 ** _"Attention. A family is asking for help in locating their senile, old-as-dirt grandfather. Their words, folks, not mine. He is described as being short, fat, and bald. This fits the description for half the audience. Oh! Did I say that on mic? Uh, anyway, his family says he closely resembles an ugly turtle. So, if you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact an official."_**

Words failed Gine at this display of public indignation, but Bulma tried. "What's with you?! That's not even a close description of Master Roshi. He's not our grandfather either!"

"I don't think it's right to call him a turtle like that." Turtle said with some hurt in his voice.

Crane feigned innocence, but he was a terrible actor. "Don't blame the messenger. I can't help it if all of Roshi's qualities are bad."

"He's got a point. The old man is creepy." Oolong joked.

"OOLONG!" They all glared at him.

Before they can argue more, drums began to play. The crowd suddenly grew quiet as the main event was about to begin. Crane slipped away to a spot not far down to their left and didn't leave from there. It must have been his spot to watch the tournament.

Gine kept looking at him, revulsion running through her at seeing him while the rest of the gang focused entirely on the opening of the tournament itself. Gine somehow broke free of starring down Crane and focused on what's in front of her instead.

A blonde haired man in a fine suit and slick sunglasses stepped out on the ring with a microphone in his hand.

 **"Welcome to the show! I'm your host, are you ready for this?"** He asks the crowd. A collective "Yeah" resounded throughout the arena. The sudden sharpness of the announcer's voice amplified by the microphone made Gine wince.

 **"Alright then! Ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for, the Twenty-second World Martial Arts Championship!"**

The entire audience went insane as they cheered. Gine's nerves screamed at her too as the cacophony of noise was so loud to her Saiyan hearing that it physically hurt her head.

Gine placed a hand over one ear to help dampen the sound and focus through the noise and the anxiety flowing through her. So many people in one place making loud noises for just a fight, and she was rather annoyed by the more rowdy ones that dotted the crowd nearby and here and there.

The announcer continued. " **Many of you are looking at me with those adorable, clueless faces and saying: "Hey, what's this about?" Some of you may already know that we started with a hundred and eighty-two competitors who came to vie for the championship title and the prize of 500,000 zeni. But that's ancient history, because the massive horde has been whittled down to eight finalists who are appearing here today to fight for you! That's right! And I guarantee the fights you're expecting are going to be spectacular!"**

"I've been waiting to see this forever!" Puar said, excitedly.

"Enjoy it while it lasts." Crane said from his spot. "It won't take long for my team to win the title."

"Tell me something, Shen, do dream in color?" Bulma asked him dead serious over the announcer.

" **It's time to lay down the law. Each match will proceed without a time limit and without interruption! The fighter loses only if he or she is thrown out, steps out, or gets knocked out for at least ten seconds! Sounds simple enough?"**

A loud "Yeah!" came from the spectators without missing a beat.

 **"Then without further delay, let's begin the first match right now with Yamcha battling against Tien Shinhan. Here we go!"**

"Here they come!" Bulma exclaimed with excitement, pointing towards the ring entrance. The crowd went crazy as Yamcha and his opponent, Tien, step onto the arena. Gine saw that it was the tall, three-eyed bald man that was with Crane when they first arrived. Gine instinctively glanced in the direction of the aforementioned Martial Arts Master to see that he was grinning madly, as if he knew something no one else didn't. She dearly wished she could just march over there and beat whatever he knows out of him.

"Good luck, Yamcha!" Puar cried out, and everyone gave their best wishes too.

 **"When you bring together such talented warriors as these, there are bound to be some interesting stories. In what will astound trivia buffs for years to come, nearly half of today's competitors are from the same house. Yamcha is one of three pupils representing the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi, in the championship round. Tien Shinhan represents the Crane Hermit, Master Shen. Judging by the reputations of their instructors, these warriors should put on quite a show."**

Everyone got more restless somehow, as if the mention of these two Martial Arts masters was the ultimate show that no one should miss. Gine was almost uninterested since as far as she knew, no human could match up to what Saiyans could do; and the feats of fighting sh had seen in her life would put anything here to shame.

She spots Kakarot watching from the wall with Krillin, Chi-chi, and that doll looking boy. Now she knew where to find him.

The announcer stepped closer in between Yamcha and Tien. " **So now that we all know each other, what do ya say we get to some action!"**

Yamcha looked Tien in the eye without blinking. "I was born to fight. You have no idea who you are messing with."

"Does it matter? I'm still going to win." Tien boasted.

"Now who has a sense of humor?" Yamcha taunted back.

 _Just fight already!_ Gine almost wanted to shout. She wondered where that thought came from.

A gong sounded, as if hearing exactly what was on her mind.

 **"Match one, begin!"**

The audience suddenly cheered as the action was finally underway. Yamcha gets into stance. "I'll start off real slow Tien. You just try and keep up with me."

"Hmph, do what makes you feel good, Yamcha. It's your funeral." Tien smirked, his voice laced with malice.

"Go Yamcha!" Bulma cheered for her partner. "Do your best Yamcha, you'll win!" Puar echoed.

Both fighters got into stance and locked eyes.

Yamcha charged first and sprung at Tien with a jump kick. Tien deflected it and responded with a lightning fast barrage of finger crane strikes that Yamcha dodged expertly and swiftly. Yamcha broke free from the relentless attack and leapt high up, coming down with another kick that Tien blocked with crossed arms. Yamcha then backed away before Tien swept down for a low kick only to jump over Yamcha and land behind him, going for an elbow hit to the ribs but Yamcha blocked it and escapes backward.

Gine watched their moves with mild interest while everyone gawked at how fast they were. But to her they were easy to follow, almost like slow motion. They seemed like rather competent fighters for humans, and seemed evenly matched but she could notice the pattern of Tien's moves being more based on aggressive misleading and cheap shots while Yamcha was almost entirely defensive. Sure enough, Yanmcha started to take more hits and trying to evade Tien's attacks. After taking the fight to the air, they looked beat already when they landed.

"Time's up! Wolf Fang Blowing Wind Technique!" Yamcha suddenly declared, Tien looked amused at this.

After a series of movements, and the flashes of a wolf, Yamcha went after Tien with some kind of energy running through him. He seemingly punched Tien in the arm that used to block the attack with but it seemed to cause him pain, and with this distraction Yamcha takes advantage of the momentary laps in his opponent's guard by hitting some hard blows to Tien's exposed stomach that made him instinctively clutch where he was struck. It was not enough to put a dent in Tien as he kept standing, but Yamcha leapt high and landed a heavy drop kick on Tien's chest that sent him skidding across the tiled floor of the ring. Gine was a little impressed, he actually made some progress in weakening his opponent.

Then he made the dumb mistake of doing the same move again just moments later. "Wolf Fang Blowing Wind Technique!" Yamcha yelled, going after Tien to strike in the same places. Gine almost wanted to shout out to him not to do it, but decided against it as she wondered if it would be cheating. Plus he did such a stupid tactic that any warrior should know, that he almost deserved to lose the brief lead he had in the fight. Sure enough, Tien had seen what the technique could do and found a way to adapt to it. He stand where he was, and after some heavy grunting he turned red and bulked himself up. Yamcha struck him with his special attack as hard as he could, but Tien took the blows without even flinching.

Yamcha looked at a loss, his best attack shrugged off like it was nothing and realized his error too late. He was also starting to look tired as Tien had not expended much energy during the fight.

"Fine! Then I have no choice!" He gets into a stance that Gine thought was very familiar, as she had seen her son do it many times. Bluish light started to glow in his cupped hands.

 _Huh, guess he knows that attack too,_ she thought.

"Ka...me...ha...me...HAAAAAAAA!" He fired the blue energy shot at Tien, but he just stood there with his fingers pointed together.

The Kamehameha Wave stopped just short of Tien, then unexpectedly, it flew right back at Yamcha! He launched himself into the air just barely in time to dodge his own attack, but Gine saw Tien jump behind him before Yamcha did.

With a single brutal kick to the head, Yamcha is sent flying down into the arena, striking the floor hard and out cold. Gine felt sorry for him for some reason, even though he proved to be an inadequate fighter.

Then, Tien deliberately knee dived on Yamcha's leg. Gine watched and heard the bones breaking in it in painful slow motion.

Gine thought she should feel utter disgust at Tien. But kicking your opponent while he was down had been witnessed by her too many times in her life to even register. Bulma wheeled around and clutched Gine hard, crying into her shoulder loudly.

The announcer looked shocked at this display of brutality, but stuck to the match.

" **Yamcha is out cold and out of commission with a broken leg. Though this was a low thing to do to an opponent, it appears that Tien Shinhan is the winner!"** The crowd went crazy, but some looked really uncomfortable at what they just saw.

"It-it's okay, Bulma. He should be fine." Gine awkwardly tried to comfort her. Bulma didn't react to her and kept weeping. "It's only a broken leg." Gine said simply.

Bulma suddenly stopped crying and looked up at Gine, her eyes wet but wide in shock. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?! WHAT KIND OF HEARTLESS ALIEN ARE YOU?!" She practically shouted into Gine's face.

Gine felt her blood run cold for a moment at this sudden change, and a sudden rise of panic at having to deal with that little tid-bit of information.

"THAT GUY JUST FREAKING BROKE YAMCHA'S LEG!" Bulma yelled, and stormed off toward the wall where Kakarot was to see if she could tend to Yamcha. Kakarot looked just as angry at Tien. Gohan watched the whole exchange wordlessly as he saw how Gine looked completely unsure what to make of that outburst.

"They couldn't be this concerned over an injury, could they?" Gine asked Gohan disbelievingly.

"Humans are not as impervious as Saiyans are, Gine. Surely you must know this by now."

"I know, but, they think it's the worst thing you could do to someone on the battlefield. It was a very viscous thing to do but that Tien didn't outright murder Yamcha or take his leg off entirely, and even that's tame compared to some of the things I had seen my fellow Saiyans do to helpless fallen opponents. " She said back. Gohan sighed through his nose grimly, seeing her point but she missing his entirely. But they had these kinds of conversations before, since the day she and Kakarot first arrived on Earth...

"I guess there are indeed far worse things imaginable one could do to torture a defenseless foe, with the things you have told me." Gohan remembered some of the stories Gine told him in her more somber and emotional moments, recounting her most horrible nightmares of things she has seen and forced to do as a Saiyan warrior before becoming a cook. Things that made even a seasoned martial artist like him shudder.

"But humans are not a warrior race like the Saiyans. We learned to fight but we are not born for it. So it's unnatural for us to see acts of unwarranted brutality." He explained calmly.

"Huh." Gine said thoughtfully as she looked back at Yamcha, Kakarot and his friends were gathering him up while Tien simply walked away basking in the victory. "I thought they'd be more upset by how Yamcha lost the match, given how he made that grave mistake of using his signature attack repeatedly."

"I thought the same thing too in regards to the fight. But you must understand that in the world of martial arts we don't cause harm to each other out of spite or sport. We fight only for spiritual growth and self defense. And not causing undue harm is especially true in self defense. As we fight with honor, and treat our enemies the way we'd want them to treat us."

"Why would you ever want to do that?" Gine asked him disbelievingly.

"Because it's the right thing to do." He said it as if it was as true as two plus two equals four. Gine looked at Gohan with a quizzical look as if he just spoke gibberish.

"Even in the heat of combat with an enemy who has sworn to kill you and all you cared about, no matter what?"

Gohan nodded. "Yep."

"Even if they wouldn't give you the same courtesy as you would for them?" Gine pried.

"Yep, and that's exactly why we would. Because we are not them. We show them that we can be kind and forgiving to someone that may never had experienced kindness at all. That there is a better way to enlightenment and being the best without crushing someone's soul or skull."

Gine looked away uncomfortably, seeing what Gohan was getting at. Sure humans are weak and were never meant to be the warriors as Saiyans were, but humans embraced compassion. It was a trait almost unheard of among the Saiyans, and was for all intents and purposes a joke or curse to toss around. That compassion and mercy were weaknesses that will get you killed or exploited. That power was the true virtue of all things, to rise to the top and purge the weak. She had this pounded into her countless times, that no matter what, if she wasn't strong enough she was dead. And the kindness of strangers was a mere fantasy that didn't exist or ought to exist at all. But had she not herself experienced it from this very man? The one who took her and her son in when they had nowhere else to go? He had not killed or exploited her, but had gave them a second chance at life even after causing him so much trouble. It went against everything she was raised to believe but she embraced that fully in what it could do for her and her son. She owed her life to Gohan, and would defend him to her dying breath.

Then it clicked. She never entertained the idea that it could be extended into combat. For Saiyans always believed it was kill or be killed, and that causing pain as part of fighting or not was inconsequential. But she always wondered what those on the receiving end of those killing blows or torturous interrogations felt or thought of in those moments, begging to be spared or shown mercy. And that those on the receiving end who escaped would go on to swear revenge on them and hunt them down, and the Saiyans retailiating in kind. And so on and so forth on this viscious cycle. If they had shown them empathy, had tried to give them the chance at having a better life, or forgave those that wronged them. Would they be her friends as she is to Gohan? Maybe the Saiyan race would've had allies or been benefactors to the universe, and maybe would not have been...

Then she stopped, "Even if that someone was Frieza?" She asked, her voice distant.

Gohan didn't say anything. He remembered what Gine had told him of the tyrant that ran the galaxy and destroyed her people, her planet, and her family. Someone so irredeemable, so evil, and so unimaginably powerful he may as well be a god. Would he spare his life if he had the chance to end him for things he would have done like he did to Gine?

His silence was all Gine needed to know, and shut that train of thought down, convinced. Yes, compassion is definitely something that could save countless lives from unnecessary violence, but there are some who are definitely less deserving of forgiveness than others.

Puar had changed into a magic carpet to fly Yamcha to the nearest hospital and the gang followed them.

"We should probably go to the hospital and check up on them." Gine said, their previous conversation seemingly settled. But Gohan could sense that this was a topic that they have a long way to go still. As vastly different as Saiyan and human cultures were, there are some things that are just universal.

* * *

"I'm sorry I let you all down." Said Yamcha, dejected. He lay in his hospital bed with his leg set in a cast and him surrounded by all of his friends. Kakarot there beside Yamcha and his mother and grandfather behind him.

"Don't be sorry, babe." Bulma said. "You did your best and that's all that matters."

They all did their best to comfort him after such a degrading and painful defeat. Gine almost blurted out about how he should not have used repetitive tactics for his opponent to use against him, but decided that it was something Gohan would consider too inconsiderate or inappropriate for this kind of situation so she just said "You fought well."

"And besides..." Krillin chimed in. "It's not you we should be angry about, its that dirty rotten Tien."

"Yeah!" Chi-chi echoed. "It was a low blow to kick you while you were down! If anything he should have been disqualified for doing something like that."

"Sadly, the tournament has some very loose rules about that." Gohan said ruefully. "That's why I stopped fighting in them long ago when they stopped caring about little honorable things and focused more on the drama in the ring." He added, Gine listened to him intently.

"That's very true, one sad thing about the tournament I wish they could change." Roshi admitted. Everyone seemed forlorn that such a thing could go unpunished.

"Don't worry about him Yamcha, I'll make sure he learns his lesson." Kakarot said, this got Gine's attention.

"No. No, Kakarot. It's not worth it. That Tien's a ruthless man."

Kakarot grinned in the mischevious only a true a Saiyan could. "I know."

Gine didn't like this, as she still believed that the injury inflicted was a very minor cause for vendetta and tried to dissuade them from this. "Yamcha, you've had a long day. It's time you got some rest."

Yamcha looked hesitant, but relented. "Alright..." Then turned to Kakarot. "Kakarot, fight! Do not let him win the title!"

"Don't worry, he won't!" Kakarot reassured. Gine sighed. But there was a part of her deep down that told her that she should not let this kind of injustice slide, and that they should give that three-eyed freak his comeuppance. She still thought that her talk with Gohan had nothing to do with it, but that same little voice was saying to let Kakarot fight for his friend. And let no unjust act go without an answer.

They all went out to eat later that night, with Puar bringing Yamcha some food from the restaurant so he could enjoy what they were having too. Gine was utterly touched by how well they treated him and stuck with him even if he was useless to the tournament now, and with giving him some decent food instead of the horrific spoiled stuff they serve there. Gine was even more aghast at how humans managed to survive at all using such primitive medical practices as she had seen in the hospitals. _If only they had healing tanks_ , she thought, _and Yamcha's leg would be fixed up by now_.

Kakarot scarfed down his dinner faster than usual, and by usual it was by the bowl-full per gulp.

"Kakarot, don't focus all your energy on one adversary." Kakarot looked up to Roshi warning him. "There are plenty of matches to be fought before you have the chance to take on Tien. Concentrate on the now."

"I'll try Master." Kakarot said with a mouthful of food, and was quickly elbowed by his mother.

"Don't talk with your mouth full dear." Gine chastised.

"Sorry" He replied, his mouth still full and the lesson ignored. Gine was about to chew her son out more when her anger got redirected and amplified elsewhere. Kakarot followed her gaze and scowled.

Crane, Tien, and that unsettling-looking doll/boy took a seat at a table right next to them. Their gazes not breaking until a waiter came up to him.

"Bring us the best dishes you have to offer!" Crane boosted, deliberately loud. "We're here tonight to celebrate the flawless victory of my star pupil, Tien!"

Now this was just getting ridiculous, thought Gine.

"Tell us, how does it feel, Tien... Knowing you decimated Turtle's prime fighter?"

"Crushing Yamcha was as easy as clenching my fist. It was no real challenge." Tien gloated.

"He was a coward. He was completely unprepared." Crane laughed mockingly.

Gine was seething internally, this insolent little old man coming here to deliberately humiliate her son's friends in public AND call one of her friends who fought well enough, a coward, one of the worst curses you could ever toss around a Saiyan... was a whole new level of arrogance she hadn't seen in a very long time. And the more he laughed the more she wanted to get up and ram her fist through his face and paint the wall with his brain. She could do it...

"Stop laughing!" Said Kakarot as he stood from his chair, Gine and everyone looked at him. "At least Yamcha is honest."

Gine was so proud of him standing up for his friend, even though he was still talking with his mouth full.

Tien got up, as if preparing to defend his master if need be.

"Kakarot, this isn't the time or place to fight." Roshi warned. Gine wondered why, and felt almost hurt, that her son's master would deny her son's Saiyan privilege to defend his friend's honor. _Oh_ , then remembered sourly that any fighting among the competitors outside the tournament ring during the event would get them all disqualified.

"Please, don't make a scene." Bulma pleaded.

Tien and Kakarot stared each other down for a good long minute.

"I'll go wash my hands." Kakarot broke the silence and walked away. They all, except Gine, let out a breath of relief at a fight avoided.

Crane and his student's meals arrived shortly. "Tien... eat hardy. Your technique today was flawless." Crane then spoke over his shoulder towards Roshi. "Unlike some competitors."

Roshi got up and slid next to Crane. "If you got something to say, say it to my face."

As soon as Roshi sat down, Crane mockingly howled "Ew, I can't stand the stench of a loser! Waitress I demand another table at once!"

Roshi snapped and wheeled around to face Crane. "You fowl nuisance! Why don't you get a real hat?!"

"Got one, thanks!"

"That one squaks!"

"Hey! What's that on the floor? Did you lose another tooth?!"

"At least mine are real!"

"They're real alright. Real ugly!"

"Oh nice oine. Where did you get that joke, from your stupid hat?!"

Gine lost her appetite as the two masters squabbled like school children. _Humans..._ she thought wearily.

Gohan eyed Gine. He saw that she had crushed her metal utensils in her hand without noticing, curling it into a fist while giving Crane a murderous glare he had seen before. The look of someone on the verge of snapping and delivering a killing blow.

Earlier Gohan was starting to worry about how he noticed Gine would be acting so strangely irate around Crane, knowing how strong she was and how sensitive she had been to ridicule given her history. He never knew Master Shen or how Roshi knew him before, and was unsure of just how cruel the Crane Hermit could be. He eyed his star pupil Tien too, thinking of what he did to Yamcha, the talk from earlier...

Perhaps bringing her to the tournament may not have been a good idea afterall. But he decided to keep that thought to himself, hoping things will get better tomorrow.

* * *

 **There we go! Sorry it took awhile to get here but rest assured I have already worked through the saga and working on the final drafts for the next couple chapters so they should be up in the next couple weeks. Now we got to see Gine introduced to the crowded World Martial Arts Tournament, cultural differences between humans and Saiyans, and some deep seated issues that makes her have a problem with Crane. What could all this mean? Tune in next time on the next exciting episode of Dragonball Gine!**

 **Hope you all enjoyed it and I'll see you on the next upload!**


	8. CHAPTER 7: CRANE'S VENDETTA

**Hello again! So glad I was able to get this one out quickly since I've been working on this saga for a while! Now time to continue off with the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament and how Gine deals with her new surroundings.**

 **Also, this may be a bit overdue but thank you to Lord Tyrannus and other guest reviewers who have pointed out mistakes in my writing. I will do my due diligence and update the chapters to fix them and as I go along.**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 7: CRANE'S VENDETTA

The announcer stood over the unconscious form of the tall dark man that had meet a rude exit from the ring.

 **"It looks like Pampet was just thrown out of the ring, AND knocked out cold! Which means Jackie Chun is the winner!"**

The audience cheered in shock that such a famous fighter/movie star could be tossed out so effortlessly by the elderly Martial Artist. But then again they all remembered the incredible feats he was capable of at the last tournament.

 **"A rather embarrassing end for such an amazing actor, folks. Lets hope he does better at the box office!"** The announcer commentated as the tournament staff carried the star-struck star out on a stretcher. Jackie Chun merely chuckled to himself.

Gine and the gang watched from the sidelines, remarking how disappointingly fast the fight ended with such two heavy-hitting names like Pampet and Jackie Chun; a measly ten seconds. Bulma was particularly upset at seeing this "star", an idol of hers, get defeated so quickly. Gine thought it was no contest. She knew the tall man called Pampet was all flash and fame but no form. His arrogance was his own undoing when he charged at Chun thinking he was just an old man, and the aforementioned title holder simply ducked and used only his foot to kick under the man and send him flying high up and then straight down into the outside grass boundary unceremoniously. He hit the ground hard enough to put a crater where his face was buried in the dirt, down for a good while.

 _How is this even a tournament if fights are this easy?_ Gine wondered to herself. But she had to admit how gracefully Roshi/Chun moved and redirected his foe's attacks against them somehow without breaking a sweat. Incredible for an old man, and it made her remember how Gohan used to toss her around despite how many times stronger she was. More proof for her that age didn't matter in the world of martial arts.

 **"Alright folks, we are gonna take a thirty minute break here, and will get the third match underway then so don't go wondering off too far!"**

"Hey, plenty of time before the next match! Anyone wanna grab something to eat?" Oolong asked. Gine wasn't too hungry since they had another engorging feast earlier that morning, and she had been feeling rather uneasy since she woke up today. But a Saiyan NEVER turned down a chance to eat.

"Sure, why not?" She said, hoping that a little distraction was in order.

They all headed towards the food court. It was their third day at the tournament and Gine had yet to sample all the food vendors on the grounds. There was so much variety of cuisines that she could smell that seemed so enticing and filling, that she often wouldn't know where to start. It was among the only really good things she liked about the tournament with so much food around, for obvious Saiyan reasons. Even if some of it was not up to par with her cooking, it was such an experience to taste so much. Or as Gohan once put it to her: variety was the spice of life.

She glanced over to Gohan and her momentary good mood faded. Gine had noticed he had been watching her closely since Master Shen visited the restaurant last night, and seemed cautious and on the look out for that Crane Hermit. She somehow didn't like him glancing at her every time she felt agitated or her ki flared up when she was distressed. She loved him dearly and knew he was keeping an eye out for her with everything going on around her and with Crane, but she didn't appreciate this sort of baby-sitting.

"Hey, excuse me! Can we order some lunch?" Bulma called to an approaching vendor. When he looked in their direction, he screamed bloody murder and ran away.

They just sat there, confused. "That was weird." Olong finally said.

Bulma tried again with another passing staff member. "Uh, excuse me? Could we order some-"

That vendor screamed too and ran off as fast as they could in inexplicable terror. "What the hell is going on?" Bulma asked aloud.

"You ladies would tell me if there was something on my nose, right?" Oolong asked.

Gine's mood darkened immediately when she sensed a revoltingly familiar presence approach them.

"Aw, why the long faces?" Came a now too-familiar mocking voice.

She somehow knew Crane would be there despite all reasoning for him not to be there, and her nerves felt like they were starting to become unraveled by his mere appearances.

"We want food but no one will serve us. As if they are afraid of us!" Bulma complained, also not caring for him being there.

"It's not you, it's him!" Crane pointed towards someone at another booth, they all looked and gasped.

"Is that a... mummy?!" Bulma asked affrightedly. It was a jacketed figure who seemed to be covered head to toe in gauze.

"No, it's someone who saw their chances at the title go up in flames at the elimination round...literally!" Master Shen cracked.

Gine sniffed. Come to think of it, he did smell like smoke and burnt flesh. Launch looked him over with deep pity. "Who could be so cruel?"

Gine looked at the man carefully, and sensed that he was in great pain. She looked back at Crane and saw a twinkle in eyes behind the shades he wore. He had to have something to do with this!

 **"THE THIRD MATCH OF THE QUARTERFINALS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. KRILLIN OPPOSING CHIAOTZU!"** Came the announcement.

"HEY!" Oolong cheered. "They said Krillin's up!"

"That's right!" Bulma said, accidentally hitting Crane as she got up. "And he's gonna knock that creepy doll's block off! And he'll do it for Yamcha!"

They all got up and headed for the ring before Crane can protest, Gine looking back at him with a mix of contempt and agitation.

"We really need to make him leave us alone." Gine said aloud.

"I KNOW!" Bulma agreed as they walked. "He's such a nuisance!"

"And quite a creep." Oolong added.

Gohan looked like he agreed as well, but deep down knew that this sort of thing was starting to get to Gine now that she voiced taking some sort of action. As much as Gine tried to go along with everything around them, she had put up with Crane and his antics and was starting to lose her patience. She made a rushed early morning meditation and could feel that her calming exercises seemed to be having less effect on getting her to feel at ease. And now here she was barely containing her Saiyan feelings of wanting to purge Crane. Knowing what someone as straightforward and unstoppable as she is, he hoped that it would not come to that.

They made it back to their spots by the ring just in time to see Krillin step out onto the arena. Gine thought he looked so timid and shy compared to how mischievous she had seen him earlier. So Gine was curious to see if he lived up to being the kind of fighter Kakarot said he was.

His opponent, Chiaotzu, was the boyish-looking doll or dollish-looking boy that also accompanied Crane with Tien; he was even shorter than Krillin. Gine already had a dislike for how unsettling this expressionless being looked. But after all the irritation Master Shen has caused her, it seemed to be coloring her vision towards anything or anyone associated with that old bag.

 **"This is the third match and a sequel of sorts to match one, as both Turtle and Crane houses suit up for a rematch with Master Roshi's Krillin fighting Master Shen's Chiaotzu!"**

"Yes, and the outcome will be just the same." Crane chuckled to himself but loud enough for Gine and the gang to hear..

Bulma looked over to him angrily. "Krillin's gonna win this time, so you can just wipe that smug smile off your face!"

Gine kept her eye on Crane a little longer, then looked back toward the ring as Oolong returned with a means to cheer on Krillin which she did not care to partake in. She hoped Krillin would win not just to prove he's a good fighter, but to actually follow through on Bulma's declaration and actually irritate Crane for once. So she silently prayed that Krillin kicked that doll's ass.

After a few tense moments, a gong sounded.

 **"Let the match begin!"**

For a while nothing happened, Krillin got into stance and Chiaotzu still stood there frozen and doll-like.

"Well, what are you waiting for?!" Krillin demanded. "Contrary to what you've heard, fighting requires movement."

Then, Chiaotzu started hovering above the tiled floor. Krillin's eyes bulged at this sight, but that was enough to let his guard down and Chiaotzu flew at him without warning. He struck Krillin with his body and phasing behind him as Krillin flew back, kicking him around the arena to phase and kick again. Gine was more disturbed by Chiaotzu's doll-like manner in which he attacked Krillin without even expressing an emotion on his face, rather than by the fact that he could fly as everyone else was.

Krillin was bounced around like a toy, but quickly adapted and broke free of the onslaught. Finding his footing again, Chiaotzu tried to launch his flying body at him again but Krillin went for a strike instead. He landed some punches on Chiaotzu and sent the doll reeling, Krillin took advantage of this and pressed his offensive with a power kick. But the doll boy quickly leapt off the ground and just hovered out of reach. A cowardly tactic, if anybody asked Gine.

Yet the audience seemed jawdropped at the sight of Chiaotzu hovering, more than seeing his avoidance of the fight.

 **"I assure you folks that this is not an illusion! Chiaotzu is actually walking on air!"** The announcer said, he too in disbelief.

"I'm seeing it, but I'm not buying it." Oolong said, amazed.

"It's true." Gine said matter-of-factly. "I can do that too you know."

Everyone stared at her in utter shock. "How can you just say that?! That should be impossible!" Bulma said.

 _It doesn't take much,_ she thought. Remembering how she learned to fly on planet Vegeta, just channeling her energy to counteract the pull of gravity.

"Anymore impossible than Kakarot or Yamcha shooting lasers out of their hands?" Gohan quipped, backing her up.

Bulma said nothing for a moment, unsure how to respond for a good minute. Then turned back to the fight.

"DODOM RAY!" Chiaotzu shouted as he fired a heat blast at Krillin, he jumped away from it just in time but Chiaotzu fired another to make him keep having to dodge.

A cry came from further down the line of spectators as Gine and the others looked. It was the man they saw earlier wrapped in gauze and smelt like burnt flesh. Gine could feel the anguish coming from him flaring up at the sight of Chiaotzu's attack.

"Is that the..." Bulma started.

"That'll be your friend if he doesn't get out of the way." Crane remarked.

"Then, the person who burned him was..."

"That's right, Chiaotzu." Crane snickered.

They all looked at him shocked and horrified, then turned to the ring. They could not believe something as innocent (if not disturbing)-looking as that doll-boy can do something so horrid.

Chiaotzu amped up his barrage of Dodom Rays, blasting the ring around krillin from his high ground. If he kept it up long enough, Krillin would run out of places to jump or get tired. It was a trap.

"Krillin! It's too dangerous! Get out!" Launch cried out.

"Yes, girl, if you value your friend's life, then I suggest you persuade him to give up the match." Crane threatened.

Gine couldn't believe what she was hearing, give up the match? Now that Crane was resorting to threatening the lives of her son's friends to make them do something no Saiyan with any ounce of pride would do for some stupid competition, Gine wasn't sure if she could hold herself back from tackling Shen and striking him down where he stood.

"Krillin, give up! Launch and Bulma cried.

"No!" Came a surprising protest from Oolong. "Warriors stay and fight."

Gine whipped around to him and starred, amazedly. How could this perverted pig be the voice of reason?

"He'll win." Oolong said.

"He will." Gine echoed, then did something she thought she wouldn't do.

"Go Krillin!" Gine stood up and cheered. "Show that doll what a real warrior is like!"

The whole gang starred at her like she had two heads. This was the first time they had ever seen her get involved with what's happening in the tournament since they first arrived. She herself didn't think she would either since it was just a silly competition afterall. Now she was supporting her son's friend like it was all that mattered. Gine felt slightly embarrassed by her loud and proud encouragement. Was this tournament getting to her?

But she somehow had got them to lift their spirits from Crane's threats, and turned to the ring without fear.

"Yeah, you heard her! Go Krillin!" Bulma cheered, then everyone joined her.

"Hey! Cue ball! Grow some backbone, will ya?!" Blonde Launch said, she must have sneezed without them looking. Gine let her embarrassment slide as they all cheered for him at once.

The bombardment continued until it looked like Krillin would have to fly out of the ring, but he made a last second side step and started lightning sprints around the ring in random directions. His erratic movements seemed confusing enough for Chiaotzu to come down from the air, wondering what his opponent was up to.

Then, "KYA!" Krillin charged with a flying kick.

Chiaotzu suddenly lifted himself high up again, letting Krillin fly past under him before he could strike. Krillin looked frustrated that his ruse didn't work, and was now back in the trap he was in.

"Chiaotzu!" Crane shouted. "Enough playing around. Finish him!"

"What's the matter? Not able to make good on your threats?" Bulma mocked.

Crane and the gang bickered back and forth, but Gine could sense there was something even more malicious than seen before coming from Crane than she had felt before.

"Kaaaaaaa….meeeee….."

Gine whipped back to the ring, and surprised to see Krillin cupping his hands. He could do that too?

"Haaa...meeee…." Krillian continued the chant, as Chiaotzu charged up his attack.

"No! Krillin!" The gang panicked. With the amount of heat and energy charged up from Chiaotzu, Krillin was as good as dead.

"Dodom Ray!" Chiaotzu fired at Krillin, the beam closing the distance to him.

Then in speed only she can follow, Gine saw Krillin jump from the attack and perform his erratic sprinting pattern. He held it for a few moments until the dust settled from the blast, and suddenly jumped up behind Chiaotzu.

"HAAAAAA!" A blue beam fired from Krillin's cupped hands, and Chiaotzu was sent flying.

Before she could cheer for Krillin's brilliant move, Chiaotzu stopped before hitting the ground. He floated back to the arena worse for wear, still wearing that unsettlingly expressionless look. _Damn_ , she momentarily forgot that he could fly.

"I'm not surprised that often, but I didn't know Krillin was that strong!" Bulma said amazedly.

Gine did have to give him credit for being able to do that, a human child pulling off energy attacks only a Saiyan could.

The fight continued in earnest with Chiaotzu charging Krillin with his whole body used as a ram. Krillin dodged, even when Chiaotzu dive bombed into the ground. Gine swore the fights humans have get weirder and weirder the more she learned and observed.

Chiaotzu then raised his hands at Krillin, suddenly making him clutch his abdomen in agony. Gine could feel the energy concentrated in his stomach, making it feel like it was on fire.

Krillin fell to his knees, groaning in horrible pain. Chiaotzu kicked him hard, making Krillin cry out. Gine was appalled, Chiaotzu was trying to torture Krillin from the inside out, beating him while he was down where Krillin is feebly able to defend himself.

"His death will be on you!" Crane declared at them. "For the murder of my brother Tao!"

Gine was confused. Tao? As in the cruel Mercenary Tao that Kakarot and Chi-chi defeated? He was his brother?

Now this fight was personal. This wasn't just a tournament, this was a fight for survival. She didn't fear for her son as much as she did for his friend, but felt a twinge of worry somewhere in the back of her mind if Crane had something in store she didn't know about for Kakarot besides this Chiaotzu.

Krillin was near the edge of the ring, in so much pain he looked like he was going to vomit and pass out. Chiaotzu approached him with his glowing hands outstretched and looked at his fallen foe with a smile of malignant glee, the first time Gine had seen him express an emotion. It was horrible. And Krillin looked like he was finished, his efforts and cheers for nothing.

Krillin's face suddenly lit up in realization. "Hey! What's nine minus three?!" He shouted at Chiaotzu.

"Huh?!" Chiaotzu stopped his energy concentration. He then looked at his fingers in confusion. "Uh, um, well lets see."

 _Seriously?_ Gine thought in amazement as Chiaotzu tried to count his digits. "Now, would that be, um, five... seven...eight?" The boy replied, completely unaware he left himself open and Krillin was back on his feet.

"WRONG!" Krillin shouted as he pounced on him. Chiaotzu didn't see the gut punch fast enough to react, clutching his stomach in surprise and agony. With Chiaotzu distracted by the pain, Krillin gave him one hard roundhouse kick to the side of his head and Chiaotzu was sent out of the ring. He slammed into the spectators' wall and slumped to the grass below, dazed.

"The answer is six!" Krillin proclaimed to the unconscious Chiaotzu before the announcer stepped in. **"The winner by knock out is Krillin!"**

The crowd went crazy, and so did Gine as she gave a genuine round of applause for her son's best friend. Seeing this brave little human boy triumph against torture with some ingenuity was truly something incredible. Kakarot danced on stage with him, laughing heartedly in victory.

Gine looked towards Crane and saw how infuriated he looked, clenching his teeth and feeling the raw and unbarred rage and embarrassment emanating from him. She couldn't help but smile begloatedly at him, and didn't feel ashamed of it. All his bravado at how unstoppable he and his students were went up in smoke.

"Who would've thought a martial artist would need mathematics." Gohan said amazedly. Gine could only nod at that, still not taking her eyes off of Crane and Tien huffing off and vanishing behind the crowd. Chiaotzu was left where he fell for the tournament staff to carry him away in a stretcher.

"Some teacher HE is." Gine said sarcastically as she observed, "Leaving his pupils to tend to their wounds and suffer for HIS mistake of messing with Kakarot's friends."

"Yes it is. Poor mentorship and regard for his students, no wonder they come off as quite hostile. Yet it is a pity for someone to be left behind so coldly." Gohan remarked. Gine turned to him as everyone cheered around them.

"He tortured Krillin, and probably would've killed him. I don't feel the least bit sorry for that doll." She said, but somewhere within her Gine felt slightly bad that she would say something like that. But didn't linger on it.

"Hmm." Gohan said simply, not wanting to push the matter further with debating how to feel for your enemies after the talk they had yesterday. But then remembered something. "Did Master Shen say that Mercenary Tao was his brother?"

"Yeah, he did." Gine said, then looked toward where Crane departed.

"Oh dear." Gohan said gravely. "Does he know that it was Kakarot?"

"I'm not sure, but it sounded like he's after revenge for what happened to his brother." She said more to herself. Then she looked at her son leaving the ring with Krillin, worry beginning to set in. Based on what Kakarot told her about Tao, what would his older brother, a Martial Arts master, be capable of?

"We should keep on eye on him in case he tries something on Kakarot, and should let Kakarot know too." Gine said.

"Indeed we should." Gohan replied, then looked at Gine apologetically. "It's unfortunate that you would have to be put under these kinds of stresses for your one outing into the world. Especially with Crane."

Gine looked at him and understood. The concern he had been showing all day for her. She nodded in agreement. "Yeah, now that you mention it. It's been stressful being here, with all the people and noises and things. I never though Earth could have so much activity in one place where we want to lay low. But with Master Shen being such a antagonizing presence, I've been a bit on edge."

Gohan hummed in acknowledgement, "We can leave at anytime you wish. They would understand, and Kakarot can take care of himself."

Gine considered this for a moment. The mountains, the tress, the solitude, the quite, the smell of the forest, all of it. She could be free from all this drama, and back to the comfortable and lonely home she knew. As much as she adored her son's pursuits and his friends, she couldn't stay to handle more of this constant bombardment on her senses. He could indeed handle himself in battle, and with all his friends and Gohan here, he'll be more than safe from that Master Shen and his henchmen. And she DID keep her promise by coming to the tournament to see him fight...even though he hasn't fought yet...

But...

"No...I'll stay."

That got Gohan by surprise as Gine went on. "I made a promise to Kakarot to watch him fight in the tournament, and I intend to keep it no matter what."

Gohan was taken aback, but smiled. "It's unlike you to take such an interest in the drama of this tournament."

Gine looked like she was caught. "I'm not interested! It's boring!..." Then looked sheepish. "...and...a little enthralling at the same time."

Gohan chuckled. "Can't turn away from a good fight, is that it?" Gohan thought in the back of his mind that little remark sounded more for her than for Kakarot. Whichever the case, he felt something was going to go down with Crane. And he felt somewhat worried either way.

Gine smiled. "Yeah. Pretty much."

* * *

"Good night, everyone! And congratulations again Krillin!" Bulma said as she went into the girls room. "Same here buddy! Good night!" Oolong called before entering the boys room.

They all stood in the hallway of the hotel they were all staying at for the tournament, and were parting ways for the night after another filling feast to celebrate Krillin's victory. They went to the same restaurant as they did the night before as it was really good, but Gine also secretly hoped Crane would be there to see the tables literally turned on him for once. Yet he nor his students weren't there this evening, and she wondered why as they ate.

Chi-chi was the last to enter the girls room, but stopped and looked back. "Good luck tomorrow, Kakarot. You're gonna need it!" She said playfully before retreating.

Now it was just Gohan, Gine, and Kakarot in the hallway.

"Alright, guess this is goodnight, Mom!" Kakarot said as he hugged Gine. She thought for a moment how much her little boy was growing, and how close he is to his sudden growth spurt and be taller than her before she knew it. But then remembered what she had to say.

"Kakarot, do you know anything about Master Shen?"

Her son looked at her for a moment. "No, not really, why?"

Gine sighed, then asked. "Did you know that Mercenary Tao was his brother?"

That got Kakarot's attention. "No, I didn't know that!"

"Yes, apparently it's true." Gine affirmed. "He said he wanted to avenge him by trying to hurt Krillin in his fight with Chiaotzu."

"Would definitely explain why he's been so mean to us, but didn't know he was as cruel as Tao was." Kakarot thought of that mercenary and frowned.

"I'm not sure he is, but hopefully he isn't." Gohan offered. "Does he know it was you who killed him?"

Kakarot looked thoughtful. "I dunno…I hope he doesn't." He then said, "I only mentioned Tao when talking about that move Chiaotzu was using, that Tao used it. Tien heard me and walked off..." Kakarot realized what he said and as he jogged more of that memory, he grew worried. "Maybe he does...Tien walked away from our stand after talking with Jackie Chun about him."

Gine and Gohan could fill in the blanks of what that could mean. "He most likely knows." Gine said, with some resignation and worry in her voice.

"We'll keep an eye out for him if he tries anything." Gohan said, then gestured toward the boy's bedroom. "Lets get some rest, Kakarot. Your mother, Roshi, and I will keep you safe."

Kakarot looked at them determined. "Don't worry, if he comes near me I'll be happy to fight him." He pounded a fist into an open palm, eager to have an excuse to fight.

Gine sighed, "Alright then, but in the meantime let's go to bed." She hugged Kakarot and Gohan one more time before parting ways to their respective bedrooms.

"Be careful." Gine said to them as they entered the room, but didn't hear her as the door closed. She was thinking why she said those words for some reason as she turned back into the room where all the other girls were already tucked in and fast asleep. Bulma snoring loudly and Launch somehow blonde in her sleep. Hopefully she wouldn't wake up and cause a racket.

Gine took off her shoes and slipped into her hotel bed, trying to let her tiredness of the day overtake her. But tired as she was, sleep was having trouble claiming her.

She could sense the energies of Kakarot, Gohan, and the others in the room next to her. She knew they were safe and sound asleep. Yet something kept her from dozing off and wanting to just keep an eye on them. She kept sensing them for a time, an hour then two of just laying in bed listening to dead silence and snoring. Her eyelids grew heavier and heavier as she slowly slipped into unconsciousness...

A slight screeching sound of glass being scratched made her hypersensitive ears perk up, and Gine was jolted awake. There was a faint scent in the air too coming from the window. She knew that scent, and as she felt around for the ki of her sleeping companions, she felt the presence of another ki just entering the boys room. Entering from the outside of a ten story building. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as she suddenly knew who it was.

Gine flew out of her bed and rushed out of the room, slamming the door open and startling the other girls awake. Wheeling around the corner towards the boy's hotel room, she kicked the door down as if it weren't there.

Almost everyone in the room sprang up from the door crashing.

"AAAAHH IT WASN'T ME I SWEAR!" Roshi cried out drearily, still half-asleep and in dreamland. He didn't notice the shape that Gine was starring at as she burst into the room.

She saw a masked figure with dark shades and dressed in black standing over Kakarot's bedside, his hands pointed down at him like knives as if readying a killing blow.

"Wh-wha? Mom?" Kakarot hadn't fully woken up yet, but the assailant next to him saw her and froze.

"YOU!" She screamed.

The assailant flinched in surprise, then turned and leapt to the glass window. She was not going to let someone hurting her son get away.

The glass window shattered as the assailant leapt out of the building, trying to slip away into the night. But in a rush of air that destroys the rest of the room's décor and drowns out her friends cries of shock, Gine dived out of the window after the figure using her Saiyan speed to catch up with him easily. She reached out and grabbed his ankle before he could land on the ground, coming to a jarring halt in midair.

"OW!" The figure cried when he realized he was caught, hanging upside-down by his ankle where she held. She immediately recognized his voice.

"Crane!"

She hovered higher up to the room they jumped out of, still hanging on to Crane by his ankle. Kakarot and the whole gang was looking out in bewilderment at what just happened, including the girls who came out to see what the commotion was. They gathered at the railing to see who she caught.

She held him up high with one arm, but not enough to reach eye level. Reaching down with her free hand, Gine yanks off the mask covering his face.

"Why did you try to attack my son in his sleep?" She demanded, looking down on him while he was suspended.

Crane just looked at her, entirely dumbstruck at how this strange woman barged out of nowhere to thwart his plot, catch him in midair _,_ and demanding answers from him like he's the subject and not the master. All the while she was holding him up so indignantly like a rabbit about to be skewered. And she was _flying!_

Then another thought crossed his mind as her words registered. Kakarot was her son?! He saw the shape of a tail whipping around behind her, just like the boy's tail. She had to be. But this was all so much to take in.

He tried to gather himself up from this turn of events. "Isn't it obvious?!" Crane angrily stated, loud enough for those on the hotel balcony to hear too. "He murdered my brother Tao!"

Some of the gang gasped when they heard Master Shen's words, looking at Kakarot as if looking for an explanation.

"Not on purpose!" Kakarot said, as he collected himself from this rude awakening. "He killed my friend's father and attacked me and Chi-chi. We defended ourselves!"

"Yeah!" Chi-chi backed him up. "And then he pretended to give up and threw a grenade at us, we kicked it right back at him!"

"It doesn't matter how it happened, my brother's death is on you and he must be avenged!" Crane said furiously.

"No, no one is killing anyone tonight." Gine said. "And based on what I've heard about your brother, he got what he deserved."

Crane growled with the fury of a feral animal."How dare you! You insolute woman! I'd ought to show you who-"

Gine squeezed his ankle where she held him, with her Saiyan strength it was like being caught in a hydraulic press. The bones crunched easily and satisfyingly in her grip. He howled in agony as his ankle was crushed.

"Don't YOU dare speak to me that way, you maniacal old fool." Gine shot back. Crane was too overpowered by the pain of his now broken leg to counter and could only writhe in her grip like a fish plucked from water.

"You never threaten my child, especially when I'm holding you high above the ground." Gine said with a menacing tone that made Crane show a twinge of fear in his eyes through the pain.

"MASTER!" Came a shout below, Gine instantly knew it was Tien. She looked fast and saw that he was jumping up from below, trying to intervene and go for her.

Gine reacted before Tien could counter. Without letting her captive Crane go from her grip she spun around to face Tien just as he was within reach of her. Crane screamed even harder when he was twisted with his broken ankle around in the air. Then, she swept her leg under Crane and landed a solid kick into Tien's side with incredible speed and force; all in one fluid motion. She kicked him in the chest hard enough to hear one of his ribs crack, and send him straight into the ground below. Tien shattered the concrete where he impacted and bounced away like a rag doll until he came to stop, groaning and barely moving. Gine was surprised that he wasn't dead from that blow, considering her strength among humans. This Tien guy must be a lot stronger than average.

Everyone could only stare in shock, especially Crane when he realized what happened. He stumbled for words, failing at the sight of his star pupil beaten aside in just one blow as if he were nothing. Beaten by this... woman!

"H-HOW?! HOW ARE YOU THIS STRONG?!" Was all he could say. Then, as some of his wits came back and realized something else that had been happening, "AND...H-HOW CAN FLY?! THATS IMPOSSIBLE! ONLY I KNOW THAT TECHNIQUE!"

Gine didn't answer, he didn't deserve answers. She glared at him with daggers; and Crane, realizing how helpless he was against her and how his best fighter was useless to save him, could only cower and shudder at what other feats this strange tailed woman could do to him.

For Gine this felt oddly empowering. She was focused primarily on getting through to Crane about what he's done. But in the back of her mind, she was savoring the fact that she could easily kill this man by breaking every bone in his body or throwing him into the ground hard enough to make him a red splatter. And not just as any bloodthirsty Saiyan would to anyone else, but to someone who had been such a bother to her, Kakarot, and their friends. For once, she was now going to teach someone the price of getting on her nerves and threatening the people she cared about. Something she never had in her entire life.

That notion made her blood boil even more, and Gine's thoughts clouded from all the times she remembered she had no control of anything in her life. All those times she had been put down and shoved around on planet Vegeta by her fellow Saiyans, unable to fight back since she was too weak. And then, having that fact turned upside down, being the strongest on planet Earth but always having to hold back less she hurt someone, especially Gohan.

Not now though, she thought. Now, she was not going to hold back on Crane. She was going to make him suffer, and make him afraid of her. And she unconsciously squeezed harder on his broken leg, making Crane let out a tortured cry...

"GINE!" Roshi and Gohan shouted at her.

She snapped out of her red haze and spun around to see that the gang and other hotel guests could see what was going down. She had been hovering there for over a minute and made such a ruckus that people came out to see what was happening. She also noticed the damage she did to the room while trying to go after Crane.

Gohan looked at her with a mix of pleading and consternation.

"He is beaten. Let him go." He said slowly, but firmly. Kakarot stood next to him, but looked like he wished he could join his mom to help ring out Crane for what he was going to do.

Gine turned to Crane who was breathing raggedly, and saw how frightened and in pain he looked. She then realized what Gohan meant.

Crane was no longer a threat to Kakarot, but now she was willingly causing him pain when he couldn't defend himself.

She felt a wave of overwhelming guilt wash over her. How could she do this? She'd never hurt anyone on purpose, the very thing she hated most. She had been through far too much to do something like that. She didn't know what came over her.

Those dark thoughts of helplessness really set her off, and she shouldn't let them control her. She's caused too much of a scene already, and should've just dealt with it like an adult instead of like a Saiyan.

Gine nodded apologetically and closed her eyes briefly. It took a certain amount of willpower to recall Gohan's teachings and breathed shaky, trying to calm herself down. After few moments, her thoughts of violence faded.

Crane, however, saw that she had closed her eyes that thought now he should try to escape. Still in a daze from a broken leg, he used his other one to try and kick Gine...

She grabbed it with her other hand, and looked him in the eye angrily. Crane horrifyingly felt as if he had made the biggest mistake in his life.

Gine was calm again, but calmly angry. She still wasn't going to let Crane off easily.

She floated down to the ground where Tien was struggling to stand up again and released her grip, dropping Crane. He yelped as his broken leg thumped to the ground and panted as the pain hit him in waves. Tien clutched his very bruised side and tried to help his master up.

"I think you and your minion should leave." She told Master Shen flatly but with authority. "Never bother us or make moves on my son again. Or else you are going to regret it with more than just another broken leg." She let that threat hang in the air. She meant it.

Tien held up Crane with his free arm to help his master hop on his good leg, then looked at Gine. A momentary flash of fear went across his face, remembering how she so effortlessly struck him aside and almost killed him with one blow. His martial artist mind was horrified that someone this strong exists and could brush him, HIM, aside like he was nothing. However, he was also fascinated by this unknown warrior. She may be even stronger than the fighters of legend!

But his loyalty to his master kicked in and looked at her aghast. "You think we are just gonna walk away when you broke a poor and defenseless old man's leg?!"

Crane looked slightly encouraged by his protege's words and tried to look accusingly at Gine as well, "Y-yeah! You broke my leg! What you did was uncalled for and cruel!"

"AND MAYBE A RIB!" Tien said, pointedly clutching his side and winching. "You may ha-"

Gine didn't have time for this. "You broke Yamcha's leg when he was out cold and unable to defend himself. Fair is fair." Gine said without missing a beat.

"FAIR?!" Crane exclaimed. "You wanna talk fair?! Your son killed my dear brother! I have sworn to avenge him no matter what!"

"NO YOU WON'T!" Came Kakarot's voice, surprising them all. He run up to them and stood beside his mother.

"Mercenary Tao was a cruel and murderous monster. He deserved to die for killing innocent people!" He shot at them. The rest of the gang looked like they were behind him a ways trying to catch up and see what was going on.

Crane looked ready to throttle him even with a broken leg.

"And besides, I let you live after YOU tried to murder a child, MY CHILD, in his sleep. That's more than you cowards deserve." Gine added.

"Yeah, that's something only someone sneaky would do. Not a true warrior!" Kakarot backed up his mom, they both standing vindictively.

Neither of them said anything at that. Tien looked more hit by that one statement than the broke rib. His three eyes flaring into a cold stare at her which Gine didn't flinch from.

"Leave. Before I change my mind and break both of you in ways that will make you useless in the tournament." She said with as much conviction as she could muster, sounding a lot like as she remembered Bardock sounded like to his enemies. She curiously wondered if he knew how much she learned from him.

Humiliated, enraged, frightened, and in great pain, Crane had no choice but to relent. Wordlessly, Tien guided a limping Crane around and walked away to the hotel they were staying at. Both of them groaning at their injuries sustained from Gine.

Before they get far enough away, Tien looked back at them. "You may have lost your son's place in the tournament for...injuring us outside the ring." He said with some hesitation.

Gine didn't say anything, and felt guilt wash over her at that too. But Kakarot interjected.

"No I didn't! She's not fighting, she just defended me from your _nonparticipating_ master! You just got in the way!"

Tien thought about that for a moment. "Even so...this isn't over. If anything, this has only just begun." He said, Crane said nothing and just kept looking at them with nothing but pure hatred.

"Then we can take this up when we meet again, in the ring!" Kakarot declared, his tail whipping around with anger and excitement.

Tien turned to leave with his master. "Whatever suits you, just don't lose any matches between now and then!" Tien shouted threateningly, and walks away with Crane without looking back.

Kakarot smirked, excited by the challenge. "I'll do my best." He said to himself.

They stood there until Crane and Tien were out of sight, and Gine collapsed to her knees shaking.

"Mom, are you okay?!" Kakarot rushed to her side, clutching her in worry as the rest of the gang arrived in tow.

"Are you two okay?!" Gohan asked. Gine almost wanted to sob uncontrollably but tried to control herself in front his friends, but they saw how vulnerable she looked and were immediately more concerned.

"I-I-I'm sorry, sweetheart." Gine said between hicks of her choking breaths, putting her face in her hand.

"For what?!" Kakarot asked incredulously.

"I-I shouldn't have let... them get the better of me. Now I caused so much trouble..." She said.

"ARE YOU KIDDING?! THAT WAS AWESOME!" He said with amazement that made Gine look at him. Her tears stopped.

"YEAH! You gave that bully what he had coming!" Bulma cheered from behind. The rest of the gang followed suit.

"That was truly somethin' else, the way you handled them bozos!" Said Blonde Launch in awe. "Can you teach me how to do that?!"

"And givin' 'em a taste of their own medicine!" Oolong said with a cracking noise and bending his hands in a breaking motion. "You avenged Yamcha good!"

"Yeah, Way to go, Gine!" They all said in one way or another. Chi-chi, Krillin, Turtle, Puar, Bulma, Launch, and Kakarot all gave her nothing but how awesome she was. Gine couldn't believe the praise she was given.

"You go, girl!" Bulma said. Gine was slightly perplexed by that type of praise, but took it anyway. Truth be told she wasn't even sure how to feel. Causing pain to someone else went against everything she believed in, yet she stood up for herself and her friends. Why did she have to feel this way?

Roshi and Gohan looked gravely concerned. "Are you alright?" Gohan asked first.

Gine didn't think she could look at him. "I-I'm sorry I got carried away..." She said.

"It's alright, Gine." Gohan said softly as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "I could sense all the mixed emotions you were having. But you are not to blame for defending your child."

Gine looked up at him and saw how sincere he was. That was true at least. But still after the lapse into something she never thought she'd experience...

Gohan could sense what she was thinking and told her, "Try not to overthink it, Gine. I know you. You are a good person. Don't ever forget that."

He was right. Gohan knew everything about what she told him of her. And could guess that such a feeling of having power for the first time after a life of abuse could do to someone, or how it would make someone act. But he was not going to judge her for it.

Gine smiled at Gohan, wiping away her tears. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Gine. I'm very sorry you got put in this situation." Roshi said. "I know you only came to watch your son fight in the tournament, and not get caught up in some feud."

Gine thought of it, her sadness that overtook her a moment ago now gone. "It's okay. None of us knew this would happen."

"Mercenary Tao was a horrible person! His brother is no different!" Chi-chi declared.

Roshi's disturbed look didn't change. "Still, Crane is out for Kakarot's blood nonetheless. We need to make sure things won't take a turn for the worst. It may be inevitable, but we have to keep things to a minimum."

Gine thought about it. "Right." Then looked to Kakarot. "This little vendetta of Crane's is not something that is going to go away. But we still have your back, son."

"Thanks, Mom." Kakarot hugged her, and Gine swept him up in a strong embrace and her heart replaced with nothing but love for her son...and resolve.

They broke from the hug and She looked him in the eye. "No matter what, you beat that Tien guy no matter what and show Crane whose' boss."

Kakarot looked more determined than ever. "I will."

* * *

 **There we go! Now that Crane and Tien have met Gine the hard way, they are now seething from being so easily beaten by the mother of the child that killed Tao, how will they ever stand against that? And that might make the final fight of the tournament seem more viscous and personal. Or will Crane try something sinister to get back at not only Kakarot but also at Gine? How will the rest of the tournament play out? Tune in next time!**

 **A/N: In case you were wondering why Man-Wolf wasn't in the tournament, Kakarot didn't go Oozaru in the last tournament so Jackie Chun didn't blow up the moon, and so Man-Wolf has no reason to enter for revenge against Chun.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	9. CHAPTER 8: HANDICAPS

**Hello again! Back into the action! Previously, Master Shen and Tien Shinhan's grudge against Kakarot has now been extended to Gine after being humiliated by her in combat. What will they do and what about the outcome of the tournament? Let's find out!**

 **Also, been doing some editing to previous chapters. Fixing typos and other grammar errors where I can find them. If I miss anything, let me know!**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 8: HANDICAPS

The next morning, Kakarot was scarfing down several meals-worth of food.

"Try not to choke, alright!" Krillin joked as he watched his best friend stuff his face. Kakarot kept eating as if he didn't listen.

"Geez, what manners you have!" Chi-chi quipped, looking away in disgust. "Hope your mother taught you to-"

Gine was also stuffing her face with a large breakfast, her mouth as full as Kakarot's. Chi-chi sighed in defeat.

Both mother and son set their last plates down, punctuating with "Done!" in unison. Everyone was too enamored by the towers of bowls they went through to finally feel full. Kakarot however almost fell over as his food coma set in.

Chi-chi scoffed, "Hope you'll be able to at least stand up during the fight!" She said as she helped pick him up with Krillin.

"Sorry," Kakarot burped, which gave him a good slap on the head from his mother. "Sorry..." He said again, meaningful this time.

"At least you feel quite well and full of spirit today." Gohan said as he helped Kakarot up to his feet, then turned to Gine who was still basking in the afterglow of a good meal.

"I talked to Yamcha this morning." Bulma said to them, "He said he saw Crane and his crony Tien at the hospital earlier this morning, getting checked in for a broken leg and broken rib too!" Bulma said almost gloating. "Yamcha said he was amazed to hear that Gine was so strong as to put both Tien and Crane in their places!"

"Hah!" Blonde launch said. "Looks like you guys might win afterall with those boozo's dealt with. And it's just that old geaser, Jackie, to beat!"

"Jackie Chun is not a geaser!" Roshi said indignantly. Then caught himself before he could give himself away more.

"I dunno." Kakarot said. "I don't think we'd seen the last of Tien and Crane."

Gine felt guilt at that. "And I'd hate to not get a chance to fight them."

"Even with all the injuries they sustained?" Oolong asked, hard to believe they'd be back for more after having their butts kicked.

"Yep." Gohan said sadly. "Someone like Crane won't give up so easily."

Gine was slightly worried by those possibiities, but felt secure they can deal with them. Roshi turned to her.

"And how are you feeling?" He asked her.

"Much, much better." Gine said. She went through a lot the previous night with fighting of Crane and being made mortal enemies of his school, but with her friends and a good breakfast, she felt like herself again.

"Good!" Roshi said as they all got up from the table. "Then are we ready to dive back into the action?"

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered, including Gine. She could feel this was going to be a good day somehow...

They all filed out and headed towards the arena for their usual spots, only to get sidetracked by Roshi using Kakarot and Krillin to try and pick up some girls. Chi-chi put a stop to that before Roshi embarrassed himself further.

It was now day four of the tournament, and Gine almost felt at home here now. Looking around and seeing all the spectators still made her irate with all the pushing and shoving and noises, but she felt she was getting used to it enough to make it through still sane. Crane was nowhere to be seen, she noticed. And she wondered if that was a good or bad thing...

The blonde-haired announcer stepped out onto the ring with his microphone, and a buzz erupted as the action was about to get underway.

 **"And now, ladies and gentlemen, is about time we begin the fourth and final match of the quarterfinals! Let's welcome our fighters! First up, is the second place winner of the last tournament, Son Kakarot!"**

They all cheered as her little boy stepped onto the ring. He looked wide-awake now that his food-induced coma was gone, and was taking in all the applause from his friends and feeling as if was just another day of training. Not timid or shy in front of crowds at all, Gine thought. She was so proud of him. Gine also realized that it was day four of the tournament and it took THIS long for her to actually see him compete. Took them long enough, but here he was. And she was going to cheer him on at last.

"Yay, Kakarot!" His friends cheered for him. Gine smiled and waved at him, and he did the same in return as he noticed her. Then the announcer waved towards Kakarot's competitor, Chi-chi, to step into the ring.

 **"Next, we have the young and feiry female warrior, Chi-chi! This lovely young lady may seem sweet and innocent folks, but she has proved in the preliminaries that she can hold her own against the boys!"**

They all cheered for Chi-chi too, as she took in all the applause from the audience like she was on top of the world. Kakarot told Gine that Chi-chi still wore her battle bikini during their trips, which Gine found immodest. Here, Chi-chi finally traded all that in for a blue and red-trimmed fighting dress and kept her pink gloves and boots. She couldn't wear her helmet so her long ink-black hair flowed around her like water. Gine was curious to see how much of a fighter she was, and politely cheered for her too. From what Kakarot told her, Chi-chi had become quite a competent sparring partner over the course of their travels together and from some coaching here and there. At least she would be a better challenge than all the other human fighters she saw during the preliminaries.

Kakarot and Chi-chi starred each other down playfully.

"I can't wait to wipe that smirk off your face for good!" Chichi bantered.

"I'd like to see you try!" Kakarot retorted.

 **"Seems like Kakarot and Chi-chi have quite a little history going on, and it's about to unfold here in the ring! You wanted a good fight, well here we go!"**

The crowds went crazy, then silent in anticipation as the drums sounded slowly at first, then faster and faster until the gong.

 **"Ready fighters? And... begin!"**

"YAAA!" Chi-chi went after him with everything she had, relentlessly sending jabbing strikes and kicks at Kakarot that he dodged expertly. He returned her attacks with punches of his own that she blocked just in time. He was much better than her at counter attacking, but Chi-chi was very fast and slipped out of his punching range and went after him again, pressing her offensive hard.

She kept up her attack for a good minute as Kakarot parried her barrage of jabbing strikes and jumped back out of her reach. He got into a stance readying to attack.

Chi-chi was surprised. Last time they fought, she used this same attack and she managed to constantly hit Kakarot until he was too dazed to defend himself. It was a series of moves she had put to good use against the Red Ribbon Army battle suits she and Kakarot went up against. They would literally fall apart after such an attack from them, and made quite a good sparring move against Kakarot if she wanted a quick win. But now it seemed like he had really gotten stronger in the last three years to last this long.

"Is that all you got?!" Chi-chi taunted, ready to launch herself again.

Kakarot chuckled, "I'm just getting warmed up!"

They jumped high up, clashing in the air and trading blows. From the flurry of movements and the force of blows, they looked evenly matched.

"Look at them go!" Bulma said in awe, the rest of the gang and audience captivated by the action.

But Gine could see that Kakarot's strikes were more painful to Chi-chi while he didn't seem affected at all by hers, let alone breaking a sweat from the effort. Chi-chi was using all of her energy at the start to get a quick knock out, but Kakarot was not tiring out as fast as she hoped to. And he conserved his energy and defended himself very well, anticipating her moves until Chi-chi tired herself out instead.

After a long midair fight to the ground, they kicked each other away and landed on the ring. Chi-chi looked worn down and out of breath, while Kakarot looked like he was having a good time. His tail twirling in excitement, and glad at himself that his defensive strategy and training worked.

"What's the matter, Chi-chi? Can't put me down as fast as you used to?" He poked back at her.

Chi-chi growled under her breath. She hated this, Kakarot had somehow adapted to her attacks so he couldn't be knocked out at all. Worse yet was she knew that she was now on the backfoot. She had went all out and didn't energy reserved to start another offense, and just barely defend herself. It seemed like she might mostly be knocked out if they went at it again.

But she still had one last ditch move she could do. It's a dirty trick, but with it she could win.

"Kakarot! You better prepare yourself for this!" Chi-chi declared, then cupped her hands.

"Kaaaaaa…..meeeeeee…."

 _Chi-chi knows it too now?_ Gine thought. She figured Kakarot must've taught her on their adventures.

"haaaaaa…...meeeeeee…" Chi-chi continued, a glow of blue energy shined in her hands.

"Chi-chi, don't do that. You'll just waste energy on me!" Kakarot said, trying to reason with her.

"HAAAAAAA!" She fired the Wave. A modest-sized but powerful energy beam flew from her hands directly at Kakarot.

He stopped it effortlessly with punching the beam head on, and the resulting explosion lit up the whole arena as everyone briefly turned away to shield their eyes.

The smoke cleared and Kakarot didn't look fazed at all, but Chichi had disappeared from her spot.

Kakarot looked around confused. Suddenly, he cried out.

Chi-chi was behind him, and had grabbed his tail. Kakarot realized too late that the attack was a distraction, and she got behind him before he could act.

"Let's face it Kakarot. Your tail is your weakness!" She squeezed hard, making him scream harder and fall to his hands and knees.

 **"Uh oh, folks! It looks like Chi-chi has Kakarot in a painful spot!"** The announcer commentated.

Gine was aghast. Now that was a sneaky move on Chi-chi's part. But it's true that it was a critical weak point. Gine almost felt disappointed in her son for letting his guard down on it, and he fell right into a classic Saiyan trap that she watched in painful slow motion.

"NO FAIR!" Kakarot croaked out between gritted teeth, the pain looked so debilitating.

"Doesn't matter, you still have a weak spot that anyone else could've used!" Chi-chi said teasingly. She tightened her grip even harder, sending Kakarot writhing in agony on the ground on the brink of passing out.

"Say you give up and I'll let go!" Chi-chi demanded. Now that was low to ask of any Saiyan.

"NEVER!" Kakarot cried.

"Fine then!" Chi-chi said, and squeezed as hard as she could. Kakarot didn't even scream as he simply went limp, as if out cold from the shear shock of the pain.

The announcer began the countdown as Kakarot didn't get back up. Gine couldn't believe it, he was gonna lose the tournament just like that?!

 **"One!...Two!...Three!...Four!..."**

Chi-chi giggled at the seemingly unconscious Kakarot, "I hope you're not mad at me, Kakarot, I did what I had to do, just like you!"

 **"Five!...Six!...Seven!..."**

"Huh?" Chichi noticed Kakarot's lips curling into a mischevious grin.

 **"Eight!...Nine!..."**

"Gotchya!" Kakarot shouted as he sprung up suddenly.

Chi-chi had no time to react as she was still holding onto Kakarot's tail when, in almost one swift motion, he flew right over and landed behind her, lifted her by his tail, and flung her with it as if thrown by a catapult straight out of the ring. She was screaming in surprise and landed with a hard thud on the grass surrounded the arena.

The announcer was utterly stunned, but quickly acted. **"WHOA! Chi-chi is out! Kakarot is the winner! Chi-chi who appeared to be dominating Kakarot now appears completely flabbergasted after being literally thrown from the ring! A surprising end to yet another exciting match!"**

Kakarot stepped down from the ring to help Chi-chi up. "Are you alright?" He asked worriedly if he threw her too hard. She looked as furious as she looked confused.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?! I GRABBED YOUR TAIL, YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BEEN ABLE TO DEFEND YOURSELF! LET ALONE STAND!" She demanded angrily.

Kakarot chuckled, "I've been training it while I was away! I was getting tired of it being a weakness so I toughened it up so it won't happen again."

Gine was amazed. It was a sneaky move on his part and cutting it real close with the countdown too, but what he did was ingenious!

"So he DID listen!" Roshi said aloud. Gine turned to him. "Huh?"

"I mentioned to him in passing that his tail was a weakness and should do something about it, but he seemed so carefree that he just went along with it."

"I did try to help him with that. He came to me and asked him to help toughen up his tail. I thought he didn't catch on since he passed out every time." Gine said, remembering all of the times she trained with him about how important it was to protect and toughen his extra limb.

Roshi hummed thoughtfully. "Ah, but you forget that you are quite possibly the strongest person on the planet, and if he could still stand up just a few seconds longer against you, then nothing us humans could do would cripple him with his tail."

"And to pretend being rendered helpless and passing out, and in turn making Chi-chi lower her guard instead?" Gohan gave his thoughts, "That was brilliant!"

"Indeed it is. Sneaky still, but in a life or death fight it could be invaluable." Gine said, thinking of how Kakarot kept surprising her every day with how much he could learn.

"His determination is his greatest strength. With it, he could accomplish anything he sets his mind to." Roshi remarked thoughtfully as Gine stared at her son with a swell of pride in her heart. It made her think of the conversion she had with Gohan so long ago.

 _"Everyone has the potential to be great if they set their minds to it."_ Gine rolled those words in her mind again, looking at Gohan knowingly. It almost sounded like something Bardock would say. How he tried to claw his way up the ranks through taking the most difficult jobs he could take, that he tried to be something better than what he was born for.

And now here was Kakarot. A child of a lower-than-low class warrior and already proving to be more than what he was given at birth. Just like his father.

Then she wondered. If he could do it, could she as well...

Gine automatically brushed that thought off with a 'like THAT's ever going to happen' remark in her head. She never dared entertain the idea that she could be better than what she was, thinking that her son and Bardock had the genes to improve their strenght but not her.

But...it wouldn't leave her mind either.

Meanwhile, Kakarot wiggled his tail in front of Chichi. "Go ahead, grab it as hard as you can and give it a try!" He challenged, but Chi-chi did not take kindly to this mocking from him, then looked really angry.

"THAT WAS REALLY SNEAKY OF YOU TO PRETEND PASSING OUT!"

Kakarot looked her in the eye in mock seriousness, "Is it any more sneakier than grabbing me by the tail?"

Chi-chi tried to say something, but stopped herself. She looked ashamed now.

"And no, I'm not mad at you. It was so much fun to fight with you, Chi-chi" He said reassuringly, and placed a hand on her shoulder. Chi-chi's face lit up again and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, Kakarot! You are the sweetest thing in the whole world!" She cooed, Kakarot was unsure what to make of it.

"I dunno, I always thought cinnamon rolls were the sweetest thing in the world." He said innocently.

At that, Chi-chi backed off, and slapped Kakarot hard across the face. "OW!"

"RUDE!" Chi-chi said as she huffed off before Kakarot could recover his wits. "I will beat you one day, Kakarot!" She yelled over her shoulder, then smiled flirtatiously at him as she disappeared behind into the fighter's temple. Leaving Kakarot where he stood, confused.

"What was that for?" He asked to no one in particular.

* * *

Later, they were having lunch in the food court with Jackie Chun.

"You two did very well today!" Gine said to her son and Chi-chi.

"Thanks mom!" Kakarot said.

"You almost gave us a scare with your tail being grabbed." Krillin quipped.

"Yeah, I know. But it was a neat trick I've been wanting to do for awhile since it's a lot stronger now." Kakarot said innocently, unaware of Chi-chi turning a furious red next to him.

"Bet you've been wanting to trick me into loosing!" Chi-chi spat.

"Hey! That's not true!" Kakarot defended himself. "It could've been Krillin I was up against and would've used it against him!"

"Not anymore you won't." Krillin said, looking as if he was thinking hard.

Chi-chi didn't look convinced and just pouted where she sat. Kakarot sat there unsure of how to appease her.

"I'm sorry about that, though." He said. That got Chi-chi to turn to him a lot softer this time, and smiled.

"It's okay, Kakarot. Next time though, I'll know not to use that and it'd be a fair fight next time. Deal?!" She said, her determination back.

"Deal!" He said, and and shook her hand but Chi-chi hugged him instead, surprising him.

"Get a room, you two!" Krillin quipped.

Gine chuckled to herself seeing them interact. Gine admired Chi-chi's fighting spirit even though she was way too strong willed. She guessed that's why Kakarot liked her besides her feistiness. And how close they had gotten during their adventures. She could see it now that Chi-chi would definitely have made a great mate if she was born a Saiyan. Gods help them if she ever fought as one.

Then they heard the call.

 **"THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEMI-FINALS IS ABOUT TO BEGIN. JACKIE CHUN AGAINST TIEN SHINHAN!"**

"It's time. Let's go." Said Chun.

They all knew what it meant, so they all wordlessly got up and went back to the arena. Gine wondered for a moment how anyone else around here didn't immediately figure out that Chun was indeed Roshi.

 **"It's now time to begin the fifth match, and the semi-finals of the tournament, just half way to the championship and determining who will become the next Master of martial arts!"**

They got back to their spots and saw Jackie Chun took up his place to enter the ring. Tien was out of view from where they were. Gine scanned the audience and flinched when she saw that Master Shen was among them. But she saw that his leg was bandaged up in a cast like Yamcha's, and used a crutch for his bad leg's side. And he did not look like his conniving self, but was rather darkly mooded and scowling.

"Look who decided to show up!" Gine said as she directed everyone's attention towards him. He noticed that they were looking at him, and made eye contact with Gine.

She felt her Saiyan instincts flare up again as his scowl turned to pure hatred at the sight of her. Gine looked back at him unflinchingly and glanced at his broken leg, telepathically daring him to challenge her. After a long stare down, Crane turned away and back towards the ring even angrier than ever.

 **"Here they come! The one and only Jackie Chun, the current title holder of World Martial Arts Champion! Followed by Tien Shinhan of the Crane Hermit school!**

Jackie Chun walked out onto the arena. A moment later, Tien Shinhan stepped out onto the ring as well. His bare chest was wrapped in bandages, and he winced in pain whenever the inside of his arm brushed against his chest.

Some in the audience gasped and the blonde haired announcer took a look at him and exclaimed, **"My goodness, what happened to you, Mr. Shinhan?!"**

Tien looked at him expressionlessly. "I...had an accident." He looked away, embarrassed and enraged. "I cracked a rib."

Gine was incredulous that Tien still came to the ring as if ready to fight anyway, no matter what she did to him the night before. The announcer looked just as baffled.

 **"Then why are you here?! You shouldn't even be thinking of fighting with injuries like that!"**

Tien looked at him with great anger. "I'm here to fight, no matter what!" Tien said through winces. "I will not let some minor handicap stop me from winning this tournament!"

Gine couldn't believe this guy's tenacity. And if he wanted to he could've just blurted out that she, another contestants family member, had injured him outside the ring. And that would disqualify them for good. But he didn't. Why was he doing this?!

"Don't be too stupid!" Jackie Chun said from his spot. "No one should be fighting with a broken rib!"

 **"Er, he is right. And we at the Tournament Staff don't take responsibility for any injuries that happen from pre-existing conditions."** The announcer said, trying to reason and clear himself.

Tien looked at him as if he had been insulted.

"Didn't you just hear me?! I said I'm going to fight no matter what! So lets get on with it!" He yelled at the announcer, making him step back frightened.

Jackie Chun just stood there and looked disconcerted at Tien, then shrugged. "Very well then, don't say I didn't warn you."

Gine was stunned that this guy was so stupid. Was he really going to fight with a cracked rib? And all the dangers that come with it? She immediately glanced towards Crane to see if he was up to something. She was sure he had to for something like this. But he still stood there as angry as before.

Well, this should be interesting, she thought. At least they had a chance at winning if a rib punctured his lung. Or if they take this out of the tournament, if that happened another day, that is.

The announcer was baffled by this turn of evens, but decided not to anger Tien further and get on with it as ordered.

 **"Very well, then. Despite the warnings, Tien Shinhan is going to proceed with the fight with a broken rib, folks. Let's hope he has a strategy to win, but we'll keep the medical staff on standby!"**

The crowd murmured at this, and Gine felt somehow uncomfortable that these guys weren't giving up so easily.

 **"A quick reminder folks that flash photography is prohibited unless you catch my good side, hehe, but in all seriousness, get ready for a stellar fight!"**

Tien starred Chun down, ignoring his pain.

"Champion or not, I will defeat you."

Chun waved him off. "Take it easy. You shouldn't stress yourself out, it'll make you loose your hair."

Tien did nothing that on that attack on his baldness. After a few tense moments, the gong rang out.

 **"Ready? You may begin!"**

Chun took up a defensive position, while Tien charged. Almost immediately Chun paried every attack Tien threw. Then, Jackie Chun grabbed him by the arm and threw him high and out of the ring. It looked like a certain victory!

Tien suddenly stopped mid-air and turned around. Gine's heart sank momentarily. He too could fly.

Kakarot's head perked up from his observation spot on the participants, catching Gine's eye. She saw him watching Tien and his fingers snapped as if to say Ah-ha! Gine wondered what that was about.

When Tien landed he went after Chun again, they meet and flew up, exchanging evenly matched blows in swift and fluid moves. Tien put in extra care to block his broken rib, making him attack less. Jackie Chun looked like he wasn't putting any effort into his moves, Gine could sense that his breathing was calm and still.

Then Chun makes a charge, and suddenly splits into eight different apperations of himself around Tien, all spinning around and striking him as if separately.

"The mirror-image technique." Gohan called it. But Gine could see, that it was just Chun moving too fast for regular eyes to follow him to appear as if there were more than one of him. But her Saiyan eyes could see how fast he was moving.

Apparently Tien could too since he chose one of the mirror images as the real Chun to kick, and it was the real Chun as Tien's kick sent him flying into the wall.

The fight got more serious, trading equally vicious blows and punches that left both of them bruised and clutching themselves in pain. Gine noticed Chun hadn't gone for Tien's rib yet. At least that's what she would've done.

If Tien's pain tolerance was as high as Jackie Chun was strong, who would win was anyone's guess.

Tien launched into the air towards the sun, and tried to attack with it blinding Chun, but to no avail. Chun held his own until pushed to the edge of the ring, just barely holding on but gets in.

They get into a bodylock, clutching each other to crush or push away. The tension in the air was thick and leaving everyone on edge.

Chun crushed Tien's ribs in his grip, he cried and spat out some blood. It was enough to make Tien blinded by pain to let his guard down, and Chun headbutts him. The force of it sent Tien falling back and Chun easily stepped back into the center of the ring.

A huge breath of relief, Tien clutching his bloodied noise and rib, furious.

"You're very gifted, Tien." Chun said, panting. "But you squander your talent with rotten ethics."

Tien growled at him. "I'm only here to win, what else could I be?" Chun was confused, and watched unawares as Tien held both his opened hands in front of his face.

"SOLAR FLARE!"

The entire world went white. Gine shut her eyes too slowly as her retina and the retinas of everyone in the arena who wasn't wearing shades burned. Everyone cried out in shock and pain as they all clutched their eyes as if they were trying to claw them out, even seeing the light through their closed eyelids and adding to the spots in their vision.

Chun was no exception and was entirely incapacitated by the flash of blinding light. Unable to defend himself from the pain of blindness and letting his guard down, Tien rushed behind Chun and struck the back of his neck. Gine instinctively went for the shades in her pocket but still had to reluctantly open her eyes as her vision recovered. Through the spots and blurriness, she saw Chun on the ground and unconscious. Tien looked all too pleased with himself.

 **"One!...Two!...Three!..."**

She couldn't believe it. The great Jackie Chun done in just like that? By that crony of Shen?!

"Come on! Get up, Jackie!" Bulma and the others cheered, but to no avail.

 **"Four!...Five!...Six!..."**

That was a dirty trick, and even the announcer said as much even if there was no rule against it. But Gine had to admit that it's a very effective distraction.

 **Seven!...Eight!...Nine!..."**

Just before reaching ten, Chun suddenly leapt back up to his feet. Tien's smug look was gone.

"How did you recover from that?!" Tien demanded.

Chun looked at him sternly. "I can't help you with that. That answer is beyond someone who follows a path of evil."

Tien looked even more enraged at that, but Chun's tone softened.

"Listen to me, Tien. Give up Master Shen. He's not the best teacher for you, or for anyone for that matter." Chun pleaded.

Tien responded by charging, "HYAAAAA!" The fight continued and Tien doubled down on his attacks. Chun blocked everything Tien sent his way, but Gine could see he wasn't taking the initiative on his own either, merely defending. What was he up to?

Tien threw another hard punch that Chun blocked a millisecond slower than he did a moment before. That caused him to lower his guard just enough for Tien to finally hit him across the face with another punch. Tien looked fired up from just that one blow, but Gine thought Chun's slow defense looked deliberate.

Chun taunted him. "You're getting weaker for losing focus, and for following Shen. You needn't have to put all your energy into just winning a silly competition."

Tien growled at him. "Are you kidding?! It's the ONLY thing that matters!" He yelled, then froze for a moment. Chun froze for a moment too, and Gine looked towards Crane at his spot. He looked to be gloating conspiratorially.

Chun suddenly wheeled around towards some human females in the audience, his seriousness replaced with the trademark perverted lust of Master Roshi. Then suddenly looked back at Tien, ashamed. What was that about?

Tien looked surprised, then laughed. "I get it now, so YOU are actually Master Roshi in disguise!"

Well, there goes that. Gine thought. Chun/Roshi looked like he had been caught, but reinserted himself into the character of Chun as if nothing happened.

"My words are still not less true." Was all he said.

Tien looked at him menacingly. "Well then, let me show you how true mine still are." Tien cupped his by his side.

"kaaaaa...meeeee...haaaaa...meeeee..." He chanted. _Does EVERYBODY know that move?!_ Gine exclaimed mentally.

Tien suddenly angled his body away from Chun and towards the spectators.

Chun shouted, "WAIT, NO, NOT AT THEM!"

"HAAAAAAAA!" Tien fired the wave. Gine's mind was in shock that Tien was doing this, and instinctively she was already in the air to head towards the blast to deflect it from the innocent bystanders in-

Chun phased in front of the wave and caught in his hands, and with great difficulty deflected it upwards toward the sky. The beam disappeared from view rapidly and everyone in the audience was agape in awe that just happened, and that a contestant tried to murder them.

Seeing the situation handled, Gine lowered herself back to her spot before anyone looked at her questioningly. Gohan nodded in understanding.

Chun breathed heavily from the exertion of deflecting the wave.

"You could learn other moves instead of copying others." He said, his voice back it's softer tone. "Tien, you have so much potential, you just need to see the error of your ways if you learn a little humility."

Chun turned his back to Tien and walked to the edge of the ring. Then, he simply stepped off the arena.

Everyone gasped. Gine felt her mouth go agape in shock. Did Chun just give up?!

The announcer was just as baffled, but didn't miss a beat. **"By accident or design, Chun is out of the ring folks. That means Tien Shinhan is the winner and now the new defending champion!"**

Everyone was silent for a moment, then cheered loudly. Tien just stood there flabbergasted for a long while, unsure of how to feel. Then he got angry, as if he just been handed the title of world champion.

But why?! Gine asked internally and aloud as much as Tien demanded of Chun, who was simply walking towards the arena entrance without looking back.

"Why won't he fight?!" Gine asked aloud again. Thinking of everything that had occurred with Tien the night before. Weren't they all in on trying to defeat Crane and his school?

"Beats me!" Oolong said.

"He may have his reasons." Gohan said, "But knowing him, I'm sure his are good if he is trying to reach someone."

Gine wondered what in the gods names could that be. She knew Roshi was wise, but she was at a loss for what that could be. But whatever it was, it had better be damned good.

* * *

 **"The sixth match is about to begin. Both opponents are students of the turtle hermit school, Krillin and Kakarot. It's always thrilling to see teammates duke it out in the ring, and will get to see which one will go on to take on Tien Shinhan!"**

Gine's attention went back to the ring following that announcement. Now her son was fighting again! This time against his own friend.

"So, who do we root for?" Oolong thought aloud for all of them.

"I just realized." Bulma said softly, "This is the first time they fought each other."

"Really?" Gine asked incredulously.

"It's a first alright. And could be their last if they are not careful." Oolong confirmed. "Who do you think is gonna win?"

Nobody answered, an uncomfortable air hung over them. How do you choose between two friends to fight each other to face Tien? It almost felt like sacrilege.

"It's going to be Kakarot." Gine said plainly.

"Well, that goes without saying since you're his mom an all." Oolong remarked.

"Well there's more to it than that, you know." Gine chuckled.

At that moment, Kakarot and Krillin entered the ring together as the audience cheered in anticipation. The rest of the gang betted it will be a draw, but was broken by Blonde Launch and Chi-chi. "It's gonna be Kakarot, alright." They both said, while Chi-chi added, "No one can beat my handsome hero!" Gine groaned at how dreamily Chi-chi sounded, but smiled at how much faith this girl had in her son.

The boys faced each other, and their looks showed that they now saw themselves as opponents rather than friends.

"Good luck to you, Krillin." Kakarot said sincerely. Krillin grinned something fierce. "You too, Kakarot. Cuz' you're gonna need it!"

"Hmph, we'll see!" Kakarot retorted.

The two entered a long and eager stare down before the gong rang.

 **"And begin!"**

They held their stances for a long while, dragging the tension that fell on them from the audiences' silence.

"KYAAA!" Krillin made the first charge and met Kakarot in the middle of the ring, the shock of their fists colliding resounding through the air. Then their limbs became a blur and they bounced around the arena.

They traded punches for kicks evenly, both of them matching each others moves. Both blocking and attacking, and making no headway as they moved around the ring at increasingly fast speeds only trained eyes could keep up with.

"I'm getting dizzy, who's winning?" Oolong asked.

In the flurry of fists and feet, Kakarot phased behind Krillin and landed the first blow to his back. The bald boy stumbled, but recovered quickly and he leapt into the air. Kakarot followed with a high jump to meet him, and then the flurry of limbs continued all the down until they landed apart from one another.

"An attack from behind, didn't sense you." Krillin complemented. Kakarot did the same. "Thanks! And the way you dodged was good!"

Gine smiled at that. Even though she had seen this style of fighting countless times training with Gohan and Kakarot, it never made her feel happy to see fighting taken as a civil sport rather than a fight to the death.

Krillin tightened up his stance, and suddenly the low angle of the sun's rays on his head shined right into Kakarot's eyes. He blinked rapidly at the blinding light, but it was already a big mistake as Krillin used that distraction to pounce. He landed a kick into Kakarot's face and another on top of him to drive him into the ground.

"Didn't miss anything I hope!" Came Roshi's voice from behind Gine. She broke away from the action to see he had joined the gang again.

"Where've you been?" She asked.

Roshi turned to her, "I ran into Tien Shinhan backstage after changing back into myself." He said, his voice lowered so only the three of them could hear.

"Did you two take the fight there?" She asked.

"No. We merely talked about why I gave up the match."

Gine had to ask, "About that, why did you do that?"

"Because I sensed something within that young man."

Gine and Gohan looked confused, Gine more so. As if Roshi had just spoken gibberish, AND forgot about what happened the previous evening.

"What could you have possibly seen in him? He's in league with Crane! He's after our blood as much as his master!"

"I know it seems that way, and even he says a s much. But he's not a cold-blooded killer."

That got her attention. "What makes you think that? He break's people's bones for no reason and makes threats. Sounds like a killer to me."

Roshi looked irritated that Gine would jump to such conclusions, but stated his observations calmly. "He's in complete denial that he isn't as callous as Mercenary Tao, and never will be." Then he added, "He's a lot like you in many ways, Gine. He may come across as a protégée who will gleefully follow his master orders but he must hate it on some level."

Gine tried to speak, but Roshi's words struck a chord with her.

"I know it may seem strange to see someone else do something like you would have. To put on an act while actually wasting his true potential as a good fighter. He has that capacity, but he just needs to see that path."

Gohan decided to weigh in. "Like I used to say, we show those that follow a path of evil that there is always a better way through forgiveness and mercy."

Gine almost rolled her eyes at that. It was THAT conversation again. She didn't entirely believe that truly evil people could just turn good. It was just a fantasy. After all the horrible things they've done, would one think they deserve forgiveness?

"Much like you, my dear. You were never truly evil, were you?" Gohan asked.

"What? No!" Gine said as if insulted. Were they really going to have this talk right here in front of everyone?!

"I never! Even after all the things I've don-" She caught herself, the words she just rolled in her head a moment ago playing again. Gohan and Roshi looked at her as if they already knew the answer to this ethical conundrum.

No, she wasn't evil. She never was. She killed so many innocents, but under orders and threats of execution if she didn't comply.

Gine thought of Crane, then of Tien. Could he really be just like her in some similar way?

"He'll turn around hopefully. The circumstances may not be the same as yours, but people who have it in their hearts to better themselves will do so eventually." Roshi said, as if reading her thoughts. Gine starred at him as if he had discovered some sort of truth to the mystery of the universe. Could people really have that capacity after all? No matter what they've done?

She then shook her head, remembering the name of a certain galactic tyrant that would pose a problem with this argument.

No, not everyone. For there were some who were just unforgivable.

"Hey! You guys are missing the action!" Bulma said to them over her shoulder.

The three snapped out of their little debate and looked toward the ring. From the look of it, the fight was still going on as Kakarot was about to attack a freefalling Krillin who somehow ended up way in the air. Gine cursed herself for ignoring her duty to cheer on her son.

Krillin was wide open on his fall, and Kakarot jumped to finish him off. Krillin suddenly inflated like a balloon! Whatever that was, it delayed his fall enough for Kakarot to miss a kick.

"Sorry, we were distracted." Gine said aloud. "What did we miss?"

"They are neck-and-neck, so far." Bulma told her.

Gine took a good look at the boys as they stared each other down. She immediately saw that Kakarot was holding back. He wasn't sweating or exhausted, but just toying with Krillin.

Kakarot ran to the side, away from Krillin.

"What's he doing?" Gine asked.

"Kaaa...meee..." Kakarot chanted, cupping his hands as he ran. "haaa...meee..." He then jumpsed into the air, and pointed his hands away from Krillin.

"HAAAAA!" He fired the wave. In a flash, Kakarot used the attack to rocket towards Krillin with a drop kick. Krillin had no time to react as Kakarot's foot landed on his head and the boy was slammed into the ground. Everyone flinched at the force that Krillin was struck with as he had the wind knocked out of him, and didn't get back up.

"I wonder if they will still be friends when this is over." Oolong said.

The announcer began the countdown.

 **"One!...Two!...Three!...Four!...Five!...Six!..."**

Krillin stirred, and stood up again. Gine was impressed this human boy could even stand after being hit like that.

"You're not going to win that easy!" He said to Kakarot, who only smirked in return.

"What is this play fighting?!" Crane shouted from his spot, Gine could sense his mood was as foul as ever. "This seems more like a bad reunion!"

The rest of the gang heard him too, with Bulma the one to respond, "If your pupils weren't maladjusted freaks, maybe they'd be happy too!"

Crane didn't offer a retort, just a weary glance at Gine then back towards the ring.

Krillin charged again to continue fight, and Kakarot met him in the ring's center exchanging punches or kicks. The blows got more intense as each fighter used more and more of their strength to inflict whatever damage they could. The shocks from the hits were felt throughout the audience as they grow louder and more painful. But eventually, a threshold was reached where Kakarot was landing more hits while Krillin struggled to catch up. Giving up on punches and kicks, Krillin leapt away to put some distance between himself and his friend.

"Try to counter this!" Krillin called out, and charged with his head bent over like a ram.

Kakarot just sidestepped and neck chopped him. Krillin lost steam and went down where with some forward momentum, skidding to a stop.

He didn't stay down for long, and looked up to see Kakarot smiling at him. Krillin yelped at seeing how vulnerable he was, and scurried away as fast as little legs would carry him.

Krillin was starting to look desperate. The fight had been going on for awhile and he was starting to get exhausted, while Kakarot didn't even break a sweat. As much as he hated to admit to himself, Krillin knew his friend was stronger and there was no way he could match his power. Krillin couldn't even go for Kakarot's tail anymore, after seeing his match with Chi-chi.

Whatever the case, Krillin was not about to give up just like that. He was no quitter, and he wasn't here to be nice!

"KYAAAAAH!" He charged again, this time as viciously as he could to at least try to wear Kakarot out before he wore himself out first. He will try to win anyway he could.

Gine really admired Krillin's tenacity, for he was almost just like Kakarot in a way. If he had been born a Saiyan, he would've been unstoppable. But alas, he was not. And she knew that Kakarot was just humoring Krillin now, and was wondering how long he was going to drag this out.

After a series of blows traded, Krillin landed a punch hard enough to send Kakarot flying backwards. Krillin looked to celebrate at this tiny victory of managing to land a blow on his now superior friend, but the look fell when Kakarot rebounded.

Kakarot looked at Krillin angrily, then phasing into translucent lines, and vanished into thin air.

"Kakarot?!" Krillin said, his eyes bulging at the feat.

"Where'd he go?!" Bulma said just as bewildered.

Everyone in the arena looked as perplexed, and scanned the arena. He just disappeared!

Gine could see though. As Roshi, Gohan, and no doubt Tien could also see. He didn't disappear, it was an illusion. Gine's eyes moved rapidly back and forth as she tracked his movements. He was moving so fast around the ring that everyone not keen enough couldn't see him, almost turning invisible.

Kakarot's superspeed running-in-circles closed around Krillin. He couldn't see Kakarot but knew that he was there somewhere. He looked around himself, feeling disoriented and like a trapped animal, starting to panic.

"BLAH!"

Kakarot suddenly apparated mere inches from Krillin's non-existent nose, making a funny face at him.

Krillin almost jumped out of his skin at that, but as he did so, Kakarot landed ten superfast punches and a powerkick that sent Krillin flying out of the ring, crashing into the brick spectator's wall. He slid down the side dazed but conscious to realize he was out of bounds.

 **"Krillin is out! Kakarot is the winner!"** Said the announcer. The crowd was too stunned to respond, but cheers slowly erupted as the viewers came to their wits from the spectacle of Kakarot's movements.

 **"A surprising end to a sensational match! Well done you two! And with that, conclude's today's events and the semi-finals. Join us tomorrow to see who become the next World Martial Arts Champion!"**

Bulma, Oolong, and the others chatted away about how anticlimactic such a fight between friends was. But Gine thought it was quite a special show. To see her son fight twice in the same day and see him advance to the championship bout against his friends. He once told her that the very same friends he fought today seemed like unreachable examples of strength. She could see how he would think that, since these humans were very clever, were far more durable than she thought, and had abilities she never would've imagined. Humans were so full of surprises.

And now he had made quick work of them as if they were easy pickings. It went to show just how much stronger her son had become.

All that was left now was that Tien Shinhan. Who seemed to be absent from the arena from her spot. But she didn't worry, he'll be here tomorrow...

* * *

Afterwards, they all met in the food court to get some dinner.

"Listen, I just wanna let you know that I think all three of you did an exceptional job out there." Bulma said.

Krillin looked down, uncomfortably scratching the back of his head. "I don't know about exceptional, but thanks."

Bulma laughed, "You're exceptional! Don't argue, I'm bigger than you."

Chi-chi didn't look too happy. "I didn't even make into the semi-finals." She said, on the verge of tears.

"Hey, hey. That doesn't matter!" Roshi offered. "You made it into a slot of eight out of a hundred and eighty two fighters. And you defeated almost all of them just to set foot in that ring. That in of itself is something to be proud of."

Chi-chi pondered those words. Then Kakarot put a hand on her shoulder. "Yeah, Chi-chi! Almost everyone who tries to get into the tournament proper ends up failing, and you kicked all their butts!"

Chi-Chi's face lit up from Kakarot's encouragement. "Thank you, Kakarot."

"You're welcome!" He said, then added "Just don't go for my tail next time." He winked.

Chi-chi scoffed at that. She was still rather mad that she fell into such a trap, but then again it was her dirty trick to begin with. But oh well, it was only a tournament. And they had much, MUCH better things to look forward to, in her wildest dreams.

Blonde Launch spoke up for them too. "Hey, you've got a great left hook, take it from someone who knows!"

"I rooted for all of you, mostly." Oolong added, slyly. Everyone laughed at that.

Krillin turned to Kakarot. "You did so well out there, Kakarot. You are by far the strongest fighter I've ever known!"

"Huh? Oh well, I wouldn't know about that." Kakarot said, then pointed up to Gine. "I have my mom to look up to for that. And you saw how strong she was!"

Gine felt uncomfortable for being put on the spot by her well meaning son, not to mention unsure how to take such a compliment. But she decided to just blush and wave it away with some humility.

"Oh please, I'm not the fighter like my son or Gohan is." She said, trying to deflect the attention.

Gohan chuckled at her sending the praise to him instead. "She's just being modest. But though we taught Kakarot a lot, it was he who has grown so much and is putting all this effort."

Kakarot nodded at his adoptive grandfather thankfully, then turned to his companions. "Now that today is over, let's go eat!"

"Yeah!" They all second that notion, Gine included.

As they started walking for the restaurant, Gine felt a familiar presence lurking in the shadows of a nearby corner. But it wasn't Crane...

She turned her head around to see Tien watching them leave. Gine tensed up momentarily, but released when she realized he wasn't going to ambush them here in broad daylight with people around. But he just starred at them as they went.

Gine starred back, into his contempt filled eyes. She saw his lips move, and with her Saiyan hearing she could faintly make out the words: "Enjoy it while it lasts."

She knew she could take him out right then and there. He meant to cause her son, and her, harm. But this puny human posed no threat, and seemed like the type would save such action for the ring for all to see.

And besides, this was her son's fight, not hers.

"You're gonna do good tomorrow, sweetheart." Gine said to Kakarot, squeezing his shoulder protectively while still starring at Tien.

"Huh?" Kakarot looked up to his mom, confused. She looked back down at him after Tien disappeared from view. He was not aware of the stare-down that happened moments ago. "Oh, yeah, I certainly will, Mom."

"I know you will." She said.

* * *

 **There we go! Now on to the final match of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament.**

 **Just to give you a heads up that I will be on vacation in the coming week which means my next update will be within a month or so.**

 **Thank you so much and I'll see you next chapter!**


	10. CHAPTER 9: CHAMPION

**Hello again! Back from vacation and back to the story with a nice long chapter this time! Now time for the final match of the 22nd World Martial Arts Tournament. Who will win? How will the tension between Crane and Gine unfold? Let's find out together!**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 9: CHAMPION

It was a complete sea of people, the grounds more crowded than she had ever seen in these past few days.

Gine and the gang were back in their original spots they've had throughout the tournament. They as a group all came out to root and support Kakarot. Bulma gave him a freshly washed gi just for the match, Gine and Launch cooked him an enormous breakfast, while Oolong and Puar saved their usual spots for them to watch. Yamcha even managed to sneak out of the hospital on crutches to watch, and wasn't going to let a broken leg stop him for cheering his friend. She was happy that her son was such a star to these people. To her, they were truer friends than anything a Saiyan could've ever hoped for. How had Kakarot been blessed to have such companions?

When they got there, Gine, Krillin, and the rest of the gang wished Kakarot the best of luck as he went into the temple. Chi-chi even gave him a big smooch in front of them all which left Kakarot a shade of red in embarrassment. At the gang's viewing spot, Roshi had just finished a telepathic argument with Crane, ending with something to do about waistline issues. He had even informed them that everyone was placing bets on the match of Kakarot against that Tien. So far, odds seemed to be split evenly between the two. Gine wasn't sure how she'd feel about that, with some human nearly as strong as a Saiyan, let alone one she had a bone to pick with.

Now they were being squeezed in on all sides of their spots by the influx of people who came just to see the final match. Oolong and Puar had managed to keep these spots for the gang to arrive but just barely, as everyone was somehow driven with some infliction of getting as close to the wall as possible to be next to the ring and clamor over each other for it. And it wasn't just their area, throughout the entire grounds they were all pushing and shoving to get a good spot, some even breaking out into fights themselves. The view of the spectator stands around the arena looked to Gine more like a mosaic of people that rippled and waved like living water.

It also gave her an uncomfortable reminder of just how crowded it was on their last day on Planet Vegeta, just like this. But this was tens if not hundreds of times more crowded than that, far more antsier for being crammed into one place; like the Saiyans were. And it somehow made her feel like looking up towards the sun, as if expecting to see Frieza's command ship looming over them, ready to blow the planet up and kill them all.

She caught a glimpse of Gohan looking at her and talking to her, but she couldn't hear him. The noise of the mass of spectators drowning out his voice, and her mind drifting further into the memory. As if Frieza was actually up there, high up above and ready to kill them.

Kill her, and her family. Just like that day. That day that changed her life forever, that day when-

 _"Gine?"_ Gohan's voice rang inside her head, like it was her own thought but was his voice. And it was loud. She snapped her head towards him, startled.

He looked concerned, but there was also had a hint of understanding on his face.

Gohan took Gine's hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze, he looked her in the eye. _"Deep breaths, Gine..."_ She heard his voice again over the noise of the crowds, but she saw that his lips were not moving. _"_ _Frieza is not here, you and Kakarot are safe."_

Gine's mouth feel agape for a moment. She was at first amazed by how Gohan was speaking to her telepathically! But then what he was saying registered in her mind. He knew what was happening, how the crowds were affecting her and what they reminded her of.

She then somehow felt violated, that her own private thoughts were being read by someone else. Even if that someone was Gohan, the man who saved her and her son's life in everyway someone could be saved, Gine felt like she was losing some sort of agency to her being. She wasn't sure if he was looking into her brain or her thoughts were loud enough for him to pick up, but-

"You were shaking." Gohan said aloud, trying to speak aloud but not enough for Bulma and the others to hear.

"What?" Gine said, perplexed.

"You were shaking, as if you were about to have a panic attack." He elaborated.

Gine became aware that indeed her hands were trembling slightly, and her chest ached like she had been hyperventilating.

"And no, your thoughts were powerful enough for me and Master Roshi to feel." Gohan added gently, "I did not mean to make you feel like I was prying into your mind. I just wanted to remind you that you and your son are safe."

Gine looked at him with love and thanks, with a little twinge of embarrassment too when she looked over at Roshi to see him discreetly looking at her with concern.

Without further encouragement, Gine closed her eyes and shook her head gently. As if trying to wriggle away that horrid memory and ground herself back into the present. She opened her eyes again and focused on Gohan again.

"Thank you." She said genuinely. Whatever he did, he was right. She wasn't going to dwell on what she was thinking about here. She, along with everyone present, came to see her son fight and to vie for the title of the world's strongest. So she will focus on that instead.

But then she had to ask, "How did you do that, by the way?"

Gohan chuckled. "It's not too difficult actually, like giving your own thoughts some ki to be projected into other's minds with your voice."

"Huh, really." Gine said more to herself than to Gohan. Even something as intangible as synapses could have ki?

"Indeed they can." Gohan said as if on que after that thought. Gine whipped around at him, almost angrily.

"And I can teach you how to put up a guard for your mind so no one can read it." He said, again on cue.

Gine didn't know what to make of it, and just looked on to the ring. She'll want to learn that trick too sometime.

The blonde-haired announcer stepped out onto the ring, looking sharper and more prepared than he did these past few days. When he held up his microphone to begin, a buzz of excitement immediately went through the crowds.

 **"The final match of the world martial arts tournament is about to begin!"** The announcer spoke.

With the addition of almost a thousand spectators, the wall of sound from the cheering made Gine feel like she couldn't hear her own brain.

 **"We began with a hundred-and-eighty-two fighters gathered from around the world, eight of which advanced to the quarterfinals, and now two are left standing, one of which will become the new Master of Martial Arts, not to mention walk away with a cool 500,000 Zeni! Not bad for a few days' work, wouldn't you say? Who will it be? While you ponder that, let me provide a little background on our contestants. First up, Tien Shinhan!"**

Tien appeared from behind the fighter's court wall and stepped into the ring. The crowd gave him a mix of fanatic praise and leering jeers, but he didn't seem to notice or care.

 **"This skilled performer has become the fighter to watch during the tournament. Prized pupil of the Crane Hermit, Master Shen, it is widely regarded that Tien Shinhan's abilities rival, if not surpass those of his master. We've already witnessed an incredible display of his strength as he left Yamcha with a broken leg and forced previous champion Jacky Chun out of the semifinals. Combine that with the fact that his average fight time is thirty-two point seven seconds, how he managed to fight with a broken rib and STILL win, then you have a glimpse into the awesome power that is Tien Shinhan!"**

More cheers and boos came from the spectators, and the whole gang gave their very vocal disapproval. Gine briefly glanced over at Yamcha, who wore a formal suit and looked nothing out-of-place save for his casted leg, and he starred at Tien with nothing but contempt. Gine shared his hatred as she looked at him too, and smirked to see he still stepped gingerly with his broken rib.

Then the announcer pointed back towards the temple.

 **"Our second contestant is Son Kakarot!** _"_

Kakarot stepped out from behind the wall too, and everyone cheered for him. No one in the entire audience sounded like they had anything to jeer, even those who applauded Tien. And the gang went crazy.

"GO KAKAROT!" Chi-chi shouted. Krillin joined in from his spot, "YEAH, KAKAROT! BEAT THAT CREEP, NO MATTER WHAT!"

 **"This pint-sized warrior serves the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi, who coincidentally just happens to be the archrival of Master Shen. Aside from the fact that he received second place in the last tournament, Kakarot's list of victories would leave even the most veteran fighter green with envy. He most certainly dazzled the audience with his one-throw dismissal of the ferocious female combantant Chi-chi, and the amazing disappearing act he used to unceremoniously remove Krillin from the ring in the previous match. His average fight time is thirty-three point five seconds."**

Gohan hummed as he sized Tien and Kakarot together, "This should be one incredible finale."

"We're with you, Kakarot!" Gine heard Bulma calling, then startled when there were gunshots fired. Gine knew that was Blonde Launch without even looking.

"Stop with the yackin' and start with the smackin'!" She demanded, people around them look at her with fear and consternation. Bulma's cheers died down as she looked around them, embarrassed by the scene.

"Typical." Oolong summed it up. It was then they realized that Roshi was suddenly missing.

"He said he went to find a better seat." Gohan answered for him. And they all turned back to the ring.

 **"Now the battle to see who will become the Champion of the Twenty-second World Martial Arts Tournament begins. Get Ready!"**

Kakarot and Tien turned to face each other. Kakarot looked ready to pounce on the three-eyed man while Tien looked at her son with such hatred that he seemed to burn holes where he starred into Kakarot's eyes. She could almost feel the tension between them as it was a tightly-wound coil ready to snap.

The crowd suddenly went quiet, as the drums sounded off, faster and faster. Both combatants got into stance, and both looked eager enough to kill each other. She wondered if it will come to that...

The gong sounded at last.

 **"MAY THE BEST FIGHTER WIN!"**

Kakarot charged before the announcer ended his sentence. Tien punched to counter but Kakarot dodged a split-second faster and wrapped his tail around Tien's leg. He uses it to swing around and land a punch on Tien's face, sending him flying back. He landed on his feet to spring high up. Kakarot charged up with a flying kick to go after him, but Gine could see it was right into a trap.

"DODON RAY!" Tien fired, Kakarot couldn't dodge and was hit by the heat blast. The force of it sent him crashing into the ring, making a deep crater.

A collective gasp of horror came from everyone, seeing the fight turn so vicious so fast. Tien landed next to the crater, gloating. The crater was deep enough that Kakarot couldn't be seen in it.

"Short and sweet." Tien said aloud to himself. Gine scoffed, how could he think he would win so easily?

The crater rim trembled, and burst in pieces as Kakarot flew out of it laughing. The crowd cheered at seeing him emerging unscathed.

"He shouldn't scare us like that!" Bulma complained.

"It'll take more than a little fall to stop him." Said Launch.

Kakarot landed a few feet from Tien, his gloating replaced with bemused disappointment.

"You're gonna have to do better than that!" Said Kakarot, and charged at Tien. But then Kakarot side stepped, and his form disappeared.

 **"He's vanished again! Truly one of Kakarot's greatest techniques!"** Said the announcer.

At least to everyone else, Kakarot vanished. But Gine could see her son's movements. She momentarily glanced at Tien, and became concerned when she saw that he seemed like he was starting to see Kakarot's movements too.

"TAG!" Tien shouted as he side swiped his arm, and Kakarot suddenly appeared where Tien had smacked him out of his superspeed.

"Now you'll know what it means to suffer the wrath of Tien Shinhan!"

He charged after Kakarot midflight and plowed him into the ring entrance's wall in the gut, Kakarot yelling in pain. Tien then lets out a baragge of crane strikes on him while Kakarot was pinned against the wall, his feet not even touching the ground yet. Everyone was horrified by the sight, and Gine swore she heard Chi-chi sounding hysterical, begging Tien to stop hurting him.

 _Come on_ , Gine thought to her son as if he could hear her, emulating Gohan. She was sure he couldn't since she just heard of this ability, but she was going to try. _You could survive this, get out!_

Tien kept punching like a machine gun until stopping for a moment to then ground pounded Kakarot, sending him bouncing off the floor and coming to stop on his back, not moving. Gine gripped the side of the spectator wall without realizing she was putting cracks in it, unable to look away and will her son to get back up and punch in Tien's face. Why was he not fighting back?!

Tien walked up to Kakarot, grabbing a fistful of his gi without any resistance and lifting him off the ground. He laughed at how battered and in pain Kakarot looked.

"Don't die yet, I've got a special technique I've been saving just for you." He menacingly said to Kakarot's unmoving form.

 **"This could turn out to be the shortest finale in the tournament's long history. What will Tien Shinhan do next is anyone's guess, though I'll wager it won't bode well for Kakarot."**

Bulma couldn't stand to watch what was happening. "Poor Kakarot." She and Chi-chi started to cry.

Yamcha tried to sound encouraging, "He'll pull through, don't worry."

But Launch wasn't having any of it. "Come on kid, you've got tougher skin than that!"

Gine never heard more truer words in her life, and Kakarot was just taking the abuse without fighting back. And somehow, Gine felt spurred on by Launch's declaration to speak up for once, "Wake up, son!" Gine yelled. "You are a Saiyan warrior! Show that pathetic human whose boss!"

A group of spectators next to them, fans of Kakarot judging from how they cheered, looked over to Gine. One of them asked to themselves, "What's a Saiyan?"

Gine looked away like she was caught. So she pretended she didn't hear them and focused on the ring.

Tien tossed Kakarot into the air then turned around to face the audience, his friends in particular. "The Valleyball Technique!" He shouted.

As Kakarot fell, Tien clutched his hands together and hit the smaller boy up into the air again. Kakarot fell and Tien struck him higher and higher, again and again like a beach ball. Tien looked like he was having fun more than seeking vegence.

 **"It looks like Tien's unusual technique is exactly what it says! He's toying with Kakarot like a volleyball, and setting him up for a spike!"**

After the last strike, Tien jumped higher than Kakarot was thrown. "Get ready!...SPIKE!" With one really hard punch, Kakarot was sent slamming back down to the ground like a meteor. Making yet another deep crater.

"NO!" Gine heard Chi-chi cry out.

As the dust settled, Kakarot was splayed inside the crater and looked motionless. Tien smirked in satisfaction.

"Is he breathing?!" Chi-chi asked affrightedly.

"Get up!" Yamcha and Krillin shouted. Their friend couldn't have been beaten that easily.

As if on cue, Kakarot suddenly sprung up on his feet, completely unfazed.

Tien was as shocked as he was disappointed. "What?! No way!"

 **"Incredible, Kakarot is on his feet again!"** The announcer said.

"Kakarot, don't frighten us like that, okay! Next time get up sooner!" Said Bulma, half laughing and half crying that he was okay. Chi-chi wasn't much better.

"I don't get it, why isn't Kakarot fighting back yet?" Krillin asked aloud. Gine thought the same herself, flabbergasted and infuriated that her son was just taking this abuse from this jerk.

But she saw Kakarot smirking, and then she knew. He was measuring Tien up, or toying with him. Or both. If he knew how strong his opponent was now, then he could take whatever was to be thrown at him. It was a risky but brilliant strategy. But it still didn't ease her anger from her maternal instincts.

"That kid's tough as nails, go get'em Kakarot!" Shouted Yamcha.

 **"Well it's nothing short of miraculous that Kakarot's even alive, let alone standing after such a brutal punishment!"**

"That was interesting, but I don't think I enjoy being the ball." Kakarot said as he finished brushing himself off.

Tien looked at him with contempt, but oddly with a touch of admiration too. "Well, you're resilient. Stupid, but resilient."

Kakarot smirked back at Tien, "And you are not very nice, but you are strong. I guess it would be safe from here on out if I used my full strength."

Tien laughed sarcastically. "Let me guess, you've been holding for my safety."

Kakarot nodded. "Yeah, but I'll fight normal now. Whenever I fight in a match I have to watch myself so I don't get carried away. I call it my battle strength."

Tien looked at him mockingly, then turned serious. "I'll tell you what...The goal here is for you to die. How that happens I really don't care. So you have fun with your little battle strength and then I'll kill you."

Kakarot looked back at him just as mockingly. "Fine. You can try."

"I won't have to try. It's too easy." Said Tien.

Kakarot laughed hard. "Easy? If you say so, afterall the only other person I ever fight all out with is my mom. And I saw how long, or should I say how short, you lasted against her. That rib healed up all nicely?"

Tien looked shocked, and then flustered as he remembered the humiliating pain she inflicted on him. Gine didn't like being mentioned on stage, but couldn't help smiling at her son's praise.

Kakarot continued. "She's my training partner, and we fight for hours almost every day so hopefully you can at least try to get close to her level."

Tien looked furious, he would not stand this kind of ridicule. "It doesn't matter, I will kill you and unlike your mommy, it's a fight to the death!"

Kakarot snickered, his Saiyan lust for such a challenge was in full swing. "One I've been waiting for."

The announcer looked confused, but sensed more action coming. **"What? Eh, get ready. Here comes round two."**

Kakarot leapt after Tien faster than he could block, punching him in the nose and solar plexus at once. Tien was momentarily dazed and the blow to his chest with its aggravated rib had the wind knocked out of him, leaving him exposed for Kakarot to machine gun punch his abdomen to make Tien double over. Then Kakarot landed a flying kick to Tien's face that sent him flying across the ring, Kakarot sprung under him and used both his short legs to kick him high into the air. Then he cupped his hands.

"kaaa...meee...haaa….me..." He began.

 **"Wow, Kakarot is on a roll as he prepares to dazzle us with his Kamehameha Wave, the signature technique of the Turtle Hermit."**

But Kakarot didn't fire the beam. "Hold on."

 **"Huh? What's this? In a bizarre shift in strategy, Kakarot has withdrawn his technique, giving Tien Shinhan time to recover! This might go down as the turning point in the battle."**

"What are you doing?!" Bulma said aloud to Kakarot.

Tien came hurtling back down and landed one foot and knee. He clutched his chest in pain, the fractured rib flaring up.

Kakarot giggled. "That's what I call battle strength."

Tien smiled through the pain though, and then he began to laugh heartedly.

"Huh? What's so funny?" Kakarot asked.

Tien looked at him bemused. "Thank you for that. That exhilarating rush. I haven't felt this alive in a long time. It feels wonderful!"

Kakarot was confused. "So, what you are saying is you like getting beat up?"

Bulma spoke for what they were all thinking. "I don't get it. Why would Kakarot pass up the perfect opportunity to finish him off? It doesn't make any sense."

"He had a good reason, I hope." Yamcha said, not too convincingly but still trusted his friend.

Gine knew. Kakarot saved energy by not firing the Wave, and Tien would've dodged and left him vulnerable. Good idea. But there was something even deeper to it. Something that she knew all Saiyans had, and as much as she hated to admit it deep down, she had too. A craving for a decent challenge.

Tien started hovering cross-legged, then on his feet. "Alright, I've indulged you long enough, now it's time to pay!"

"I don't think so!" Kakarot shouted back.

 **"Tension in the ring is high! Despite the extraordinary displays at resilience and strength, neither combatant shows any signs of fatigue!"**

They charged at each other, meeting in the middle of the ring trading blows evenly. Kakarot's small size being advantageous to dodging and landing hits in weak spots but Tien's powerful blows sent Kakarot reeling whenever he got struck. This fight looked like it could go either way.

 **"Rarely have we seen fighters display such an unrelenting fury! Tien and Kakarot are taking this fight to a whole new level, everything is to the extreme! A normal person at the receiving end at those punches would never wake up!"**

They both stopped trading blows and leapt away from each other to a safe distance. Both combatants calm and without any sweat broken. They get into stance, ready to go at it again. Kakarot's tail twitched in anticipation.

Tien went after him with machine gun-like crane strikes that Kakarot blocked. Then they increased their speed until the fight became a blur to everyone else except Gine. They were going so fast even the announcer couldn't see what was happening. But the judges won't be able to enforce rules that don't exist in regards to record speed fighting.

Bulma and the others were cheering and shouting for Kakarot on where his next moves ought to be. They couldn't possibly see what was going on save for Roshi and Gohan, but she kept feeling more and more touched by their support.

Kakarot went on the offensive explosively, pushing Tien to the very edge of the ring with no room to move. Gine felt so into the fight she felt as if she were on the edge too!

She felt a crunch in her hands, and caught herself when she realized she had been crushing the bricks where she gripped the spectator wall. Was this tournament getting to her? She asked herself. The people next to her looked terrified that some woman could grind bricks into dust. She blushed and looked away from them, hoping they would stop starring at her.

Back in the ring, Tien deftly broke free of Kakarot's barrage to expel him from the ring, and got back into the center of the arena to counterattack. But Kakarot suddenly splits into several Kakarots at once suurounding Tien, all frozen in place.

"You whelp! I can't be fooled by optical illusions. But you're about to learn that now." Tien declared. He strikes a Kakarot that charged from behind, but it was an apparition.

"Gotchya!" Another Kakarot charged, but he went right through Tien.

"Now who's seeing double?!" Tien taunted, and swung at another Kakarot. His hit connects with the boy solidly. Tien yells victoriously as Kakarot fell to the ground. But then he simply fades.

Tien realized too late that it was also an apparition as another Kakarot flew at him with a double kick, the blow sent Tien into the ground with a earth-trembling thud. Gine could only watch in awe as the son who struck Tien also faded. How many fake Kakarots were there? The others faded as the real Kakarot stood at Tien's feet. The crowd went wild.

 **"Spectacular! I don't think anyone could label that as anything less than extraordinary, as Kakarot's mastery of the Mirror Image Technique has left Tien face down!"**

"I guess there's a first time for everything!" Kakarot said to Tien's earlier declaration as he struggled to get up.

Tien looked at Kakarot angrily. "Fool, you think your infantile tricks could defeat me? Me?! You are barely even a challenge!"

"I dunno, it looked like you had to fight pretty hard." Kakarot countered with a hint of salt in his voice.

Now Tien was enraged. "You dare mock me? Now prepare to suffer my wrath!" He held up his open hands to his head.

"SOLAR FLARE!" He shouted as the world went blinding white.

Gine had barely enough reflex time to put on her shades before her head felt like it was splitting open and seeing spots behind her eyelids. When her sight adjusted, she could see Tien charging at Kakarot while he seemed to not move.

Kakarot suddenly grabbed Tien's fist in mid-punch. Before the shock could register on Tien's face, Kakarot right hooked Tien in the chest exactly where Gine had struck him in the ribs a couple nights ago.

Tien cried out in agony as a loud crack came from him, as Kakarot hit him hard enough for even her to feel his pain. If his rib wasn't broken thoroughly before, it was now. As the blinding light of the flare faded, a sly smile appeared on Gine's face as she saw Kakarot had put his shades on at the last moment. Such a perfect surprise she thought by improvising with his full-moon glasses. Gine swore her son was becoming more and more clever than she ever thought.

 **"Whoa! There's something you don't see everyday! Kakarot pulled out some stylish shades to protect his eyes at the last moment! And now Tien is down, and looks WAY out of sorts!"**

Tien lay collapsed on his side clutching his chest and looked in complete pain, almost incapacitated by the now very broken rib. He looked up at Kakarot and spoke through gritted teeth.

"h-how?! How did you...survive?!"

Kakarot posed and did a peace sign as Roshi would. "Sunglasses! My sunglasses!"

With Tien writhing on the ground, the announcer began the countdown.

 **"One!... Two!... Three!..."**

It seemed all but certain that Kakarot would claim the match.

 **"Four!... Five!..."**

But before long and with great difficulty, Tien managed to stand back up. Gine, the gang, and the rest of the crowds were just as stunned that he won't give up.

What was this guy made of? Gine thought.

The announcer then looked concerned as Tien staggered and clutched his rib, visibly cracked.

 **"Huh, hey, let's get a medic here since I'm not too sure about fighting with a broken rib is a good id-"**

"NO! NO DOCTORS!" Tien shouted. Then looked back at Kakarot.

"You don't give up, do you?" Kakarot said with an ounce of respect. Tien clutched his side with one hand and shook his other at Kakarot with a clenched fist.

"GIVE UP NOW, IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!" He demanded.

"Leave him alone you big bully!" Bulma shouted from her spot, then looked embarrassed.

Kakarot chuckled. "You are not in any position to ask me to give up, especially with that rib. Whether you like it or not, I never quit for anyone!"

Tien gave him a glare that could kill. "Very well then, you'll pay for that cheap shot!"

Kakarot acted offended. "Cheap shot? I'm not the one who broke someone's leg when they were down for the count. As far as I'm concerned, you had it coming. And now it's a weak spot for you to defend, so have fun with that!" He said mockingly.

Gine was slightly disturbed by this. Given Tien's brutal tactics she guessed it evened out that he got what he served, but now Kakarot was fighting dirty too. And if Tien was as brutal in a fair fight, what would he do now?

They charged against each other with Tien keeping an arm back to defend his broken rib, leaving only an arm to attack and block. Gine's fears seemed to vanish for a moment. Kakarot could definitely win this, she thought without a doubt.

Suddenly in midair, Kakarot froze in the middle of a charge and did not move or do anything as Tien struck him visciously with a right hook that sent him across the ring. What was that? She thought.

Tien looked like he got his confidence back, Kakarot looked dazed. "No fair!" Tien, after what he was just dealt moments ago laughed heartedly. "So what?"

Kakarot got back on his feet with some difficulty. "You rely on too many tricks!"

"Stop complaining, now either fight me or step out of the ring."

"Never!" Kakarot said defiantly.

"Fine, then when you meet Tao, tell him I sent you!" Tien said as they charged and traded blows evenly again, jumping high.

Then, Kakarot froze again. Gine thought it was a fluke but it was happening again, and it looked unnatural.

Kakarot was now helpless as Tien landed a powerkick to his face that sent him flying down out of the ring. He kept falling, not doing anything. He was out for sure!

"NO!" Gine cried out, her heart sinking as he got closer and closer to the ground.

But then, Kakarot looked to concentrate as he fell, then slowly, his fall slowed down until he finally stopped just a few feet off the ground outside the ring.

"WHAT?!" She heard Tien and Crane shout simultaneously. Their eyes were not deceiving them. Kakarot was floating!

Gine couldn't believe it. He finally figured it out in time to save him.

 **"What an amazing sight folks! It seems like Kakarot has the gravity defying ability to fly as well as Tien and Chiaotzu, and has made an ultimate recovery from falling out of the ring! It goes to show that Kakarot is one amazing fighter who can do quite about almost anything!"**

Kakarot hovered back over the arena and set himself down on his feet in front of a dumbstruck and enraged Tien.

"HOW DID YOU DO THAT?!" He demanded. "THE FLYING TECHNIQUE IS SOMETHING ONLY MY MASTER CAN TEACH!"

Kakarot laughed happily. "I finally figured out how to channel my energy to hover my body weight by watching your friend Chiaotzu against Krillin!"

Tien looked even more confused and angry. "That still doesn't answer my question! How did you even learn the ability to fly at all?!"

"My mom taught me!" He said matter-of-factly. "She's been trying to teach me for awhile but I finally figured it out." Then he turned toward her in the crowd and waved.

"HEY MOM! I FINALLY FIGURED IT OUT!" He shouted to her excitedly.

Gine chuckled embarrassingly as everyone looked at her in amazement that she could even fly as well, not appreciating the attention as much as the thanks. She had been hammering home how to get him to focus his energy to force his body above ground and he has struggled so much, barely able to lift his own weight a few mere inches. But she figured after seeing someone else do it, he was able to figure it out. She felt mixed emotions as to how she failed as a teacher or Saiyan mother about how to do something basic as flying, or how proud she is that her son is so observant and can learn just about anything from anywhere, making himself into an amazing fighter.

Tien felt entirely the opposite, a technique so sacred to his school now being utilized by this insulant little twerp and his monster of a mother to mock him and Tao, he looked seething and charged while Kakarot's back was turned. Kakarot turned in time to react and dodge. The fight then continued in earnest.

Kakarot froze again and was struck by several punches, unable to block at all. Gine could definitely see it now, and saw on Kakarot's face that it was not him doing it on purpose. It looked like someone or something was definitely manipulating her son's body like he was being controlled.

"ENOUGH!" Kakarot demanded as he got back up. "I'm tired of your sneaky tricks!"

This got her attention, now it was definitely not a fluke or suspicion. Tien looked taken aback too, "Tricks? What tricks? I don't know what your angle is, but my kicking your tail is all skill!"

"I call it cheating!" Kakarot said seriously.

Tien chuckled, "I don't care. All I know is I don't use excuses to cover up a failure. That's your way."

Kakarot charged angrily but Tien didn't move, then Kakarot froze, again.

Gine saw Tien didn't do anything either, he wasn't concentrating on anything just readying to attack. It couldn't be him but rather an outside force.

Then she noticed Yamcha looking over at the direction of Crane, and her blood boiled in anger. It was Chiaotzu, his finger pointed at Kakarot and glowing. So it was magic! And they ARE cheating!

"Rapid Velocity Technique!" Tien shouted, Gine looked back at the ring to see Tien's arms blur to a whirlwind, landing hundreds of smacks a second on him and Kakarot could only take it until he fell to the floor after a brutal beating. He looked like he was still conscious, but he wasn't getting back up.

"Get up, Kakarot!" Bulma and the girls shouted.

"He wants to, but I don't think he has a choice in the matter." Yamcha spoke.

The whole group looked at him for an explanation, but Gine spoke instead as she and Yamcha saw what was going on. "That creepy doll-like child, Chiaotzu, is using some sort of mental telepathy to manipulate Kakarot's body." Barely containing the anger in her voice.

Launch was more than pissed. "Is that a fact?!" She said clenching her teeth. She then pulled out a gun and starred threateningly through the crowd at the direction of Master Shen and Chiaotzu. Every poor spectator in the path of her stare screamed bloody murder and fled.

The announcer began the countdown as Kakarot still couldn't get back up from that last attack.

"Was that twenty-five or thirty hits? I lost count." Tien taunted to her paralyzed son. "Either way I expected a challenge. You're just as predictable as my other opponents and just as weak." He started to walk away, certain of his victory.

"Predictable?" Came from Kakarot. Tien turned in surprise only to have his face kicked, landing on his back. Tien was stunned that Kakarot had somehow managed to get back up, but he was even more furious that this boy wouldn't stay down. He rubbed his face as a large bruise began to form.

"You'll regret that!" Tien said as he got up, "You should've stayed down."

Kakarot looked him in the eye without fear. "Do your worst, but I'm not going to lose to a coward like you!"

Tien looked indignant at this accusation. "Oh really? And just how am I a coward?!"

They charged, but Gine watched as Crane's lips moved saying something to Chiaotzu and his finger glowed, and Kakarot froze. So it was true, they all saw it and it was as solid of proof that Crane was cheating as anything. Chiaotzu was directly freezing Kakarot in place to be held down like a punching bag as Tien landed baragges of hits onto her son.

After another barrage of strikes from Tien that were much more brutal than the last, with Kakarot unable to defend himself, he collapsed to the ground and didn't move. Gine saw Chiaotzu's finger still glowing and guessed they were going to hold him down for the count this time.

 _Ok_ , she thought, _enough was enough_. Gine's fists clenched, glaring directly at Crane and Chiaotzu. It was one thing to cheat a Saiyan in battle, but to treat her son as a worthless piece meat by someone who thought was better was another thing entirely, not to mention as a mother her son could die in such a dishonorable way. She was about to march straight over to Crane and Chiaotzu and blast them on the spot, competition be damned.

"GRRR, THATS IT!" Launched spoke for Gine's thoughts just as she stomped in the direction of Crane, taking the initiative instead. Whatever she was going to do, she better do it quick since it looked like Kakarot won't hold out for much longer before he got disqualified.

Launch came up right behind Crane as not-so-stealthily as she could, with a comically large mallet. She lifted it high, about to hit him in the head with it.

But as she brought the mallet down over him, Crane caught it with just his fingertip without even turning his head to look. Launch looked amazed. But before she could react, Crane flicked the mallet to send it flying away backwards, with Launch still clutching it, flying away with it.

With that, Gine shook her head in exasperation. She'll have to do the deed herself, and started to hurry in Crane's direction.

Tien looked like he saw what they were trying to do, and Kakarot grabbed his leg while laying on the ground barely conscious.

"You...cheated...me." He croaked out before passing out.

Gine stopped her marching as she saw that Tien was just looking at Crane and just started at him.

What was he doing?

A moment later, Tien looked back at Kakarot, as if to prepare to strike him down for good, but relented after hesitating.

"Tien Shinhan!" Crane shouted.

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Tien shouted back at his master.

 **"Uh...that was kinda...weird."** The announcer spoke for all of them.

Kakarot got back up to his feet. Gine was relieved he wasn't permanently damaged after being rendered helpless after that last beating.

"It's my turn now!" Kakarot said as he began to charge at Tien.

"KAKAROT, STOP!" Came a voice from behind the entrance curtain to the ring. Kakarot stopped, looking confused as he saw who called out to him, and saw when Gine did too.

 _So THAT'S where Roshi's been hiding._ Gine thought to herself as she saw her son's master and Krillin observing from the wall.

"He must die!" Crane demanded to Tien. "I am your master and you must obey my command!"

Tien looked back at Crane forlorn, then replied with a patient gentleness Gine had never seen before.

"I've done as you asked. I have defeated your enemies and defended the honor of our school. The success of this match is in my hands alone. I do not need assistance."

"Then prove it!" Crane shot. "Destroy him at once!"

Tien looked down at Kakarot who looked at him confused but expectant.

"No." Tien said. "I won't kill Kakarot. Doing so would cause me to lose this match."

Crane looked enraged. "Never mind the stupid match! Make no mistake, you are a killer! Or do you forsake your destiny?!"

Tien looked at Crane with defiance for the first time. "No master...my destiny is not what you'd have me believe...I'm no killer."

Gine was speechless. Moments ago this man was hellbent on destroying her son for a simple transgression. Now, seeing him walk away from a path of darkness and from a horrible master... she wasn't sure how to take this in. Humans were such confusing yet amazinbg creatures that still never cease to surprise her.

Crane didn't think so, his face red with rage at Tien's betrayal. "You.. YOU WEAK COWARD! Insolent fool! You have allowed that senile Turtle Hermit to warp your mind!"

The announcer stepped in, **"Uh, excuse me, but I can't allow you to disrupt the f-"**

"I'M SPEAKING!" Crane shouted at the poor guy, then turned back to Tien. "I made you, Tien! All that you are has sprung from my generous hands! And now your insubordination has clenched them into fists! Now you'll pay!"

"Some generous master YOU are." Gine said under her breath to Crane, knowing all too well the kinds of people who would turn against their own no matter how much they had done for them. As far as she was concerned he was no better than the Super Elites who toyed with her, or even someone like Frieza.

Then he turned toward Chiaotzu.

"Chiaotzu, paralyze them both!" He commanded. But the doll-like child looked at his master like he was afraid of him, and did nothing.

"Chiaotzu!" Crane shouted, his composure cracking even further. The poor child looked away as if ashamed. "I'm sorry, Master. I will do anything you ask of me. But I cannot hurt my friend Tien Shinhan."

This almost brought Gine to tears. Now this doll-child she thought of as nothing more than a sworn enemy was turning against the dark path to save his friend was truly amazing. This tournament and it's drama really was getting to her.

Crane finally lost it. With his students turned against him and his brother about to go unavenged, the Crane Hermit looked not like some distinguish martial arts teacher rather than a seething psychopath on the brink of flying into a rampage.

"COME HERE!" He growled as he grabbed Chiaotzu by the collar. The poor boy looked so scared by the man he trusted as his mentor, and cried out as Crane raised a hand to strike him down.

"CHIAOTZU!" Tien cried out as he could only watch. Roshi shouted something but Gine didn't hear as she suddenly charged through the crowd, not caring for knocking over bystanders.

She phased in front of Crane with lightning speed, and chopped the hand holding Chiaotzu. Gine didn't use that much force but with her strength she almost lopped it clean off as the bones in his wrist snapped like dried twigs. Crane dropped Chiaotzu, crying out in agony and shock at seeing the shattering of his left hand and the appearance of her face out of nowhere.

Then, with all the grief caused by him, the overstimulation, and the anxiety pent up in her from this entire tournament, she released it all at once with one swift kick. Her foot connected with Crane in the stomach, and the great Master Shen was sent flying high and fast into the sky, until he disappeared from sight.

"MASTER SHEN!" Tien cried out in astonishment. Roshi was behind him, he looked just as amazed too and halted himself from firing a Kamehameha Wave.

The crowds around Gine looked horrified and amazed at what they just saw, and the gang looked amazed as well. Launch broke the silence.

"YEAH! YOU SHOWED THAT BIRD WHOSE BOSS GIRL!" She shouted and the gang cheered along with her, including some of the crowd.

Gine snapped out of starring where she sent Crane flying off to, and noticed everyone staring at her and cheering. She suddenly looked embarrassed and overwhelmed by the attention and praise. She didn't know what to do until she looked down at Chiaotzu on the ground.

"Are you okay?" She asked as she bent down with an extended hand to help him up.

"Wha-What happened to Master Shen?" He asked just as astounded as everyone else.

"That was no way for any master to treat his studens." She said instead of answering, and looked at Tien. "He is a despicable little man who did not deserve good students like you and to cause trouble for others." She looked at the gang and back to Kakarot.

"Uh, mom, what did you just do?" Her son asked in confusion.

 **"For once...I'm at a loss for words, folks."** The announcer said through the amazement. **"No explanation for what you just saw, let's hope Master Shen doesn't land on anyone important. Heh, just kidding folks."**

"Don't worry about him." Roshi spoke up to him and Tien. "That bird will be VERY sore for awhile, but he won't perish."

Gine nodded in agreement, impressed that Roshi knew that Gine pulled back just a little before she kicked Crane to high heaven. She could've easily killed him if she kicked him with all her strenght, but something in the back of her told her at the last millisecond to not do so. She so desperately wanted to hurt him for all he's caused and tried to do, but somehow, despite her Saiyan nature and her desire to rid herself and her friends of a great source of grief. She didn't. Where did that come from?

"There will be plenty of time to discuss all of this later." Roshi said, then he looked impatient. "Now, let's get back to the fight!"

Oh, right! Everyone diverted their focus again at the ring. Kakarot and Tien immediately forgetting her role in what just happened. Gine was grateful for Roshi to take away the attention from her.

Kakarot turned to Tien, "I'm sorry, I guess I was wrong about you cheating."

Tien looked back at him seriously. "I have forsaken my Master. All that is left for me now is this fight. So let me make one thing clear. This isn't about the rivalry between our schools or revenge anymore. I fight for one purpose only, to win. Never again will I be lead astray from my goal!" He declared.

Gine couldn't be any more amazed at how someone could redeem themselves so quickly.

"I'm glad." Kakarot said. "So let's get this match back on track."

"I will win. No matter how long or what measures I have to take!" Tien declared with true sportsmanship in his voice.

"Ok, let's go!" Kakarot said with gusto.

 **"Believe it or not, it looks like the fight has resumed!"** The crowds went crazy as the action was now back in the ring again and everyone has completely forgotten the incident.

Gine started walking back towards her spot with the gang but felt a tug on her dress. She looked down to see Chiaotzu extending a hand for her to shake.

"Thank you." Chiaotzu said to her over the noise of the crowd, "Thank you for saving me from my former master. And I apologize for paralyzing your son."

Gine didn't know how to react at first, her eyes moistening slightly at how genuine this doll-child was asking for her forgiveness, where just minutes before she thought such ill of him.

Gine smiled and shook Chiaotzu's small hand. "Think nothing of it." She said, and turned back toward the gang. When she got there they greeted her like a hero.

"That was so awesome, Gine!" Bulma exclaimed.

"Yeah! Finally someone put that ol' bag in his place!" Launch echoed.

"Way to go, Gine!" Puar and Oolong said simultaneously.

Gine had a taste of such praise before when she first dealt with Crane, but she was still so unused to it. She had never been hailed in any heroic manner before, not especially with so many people watching. Though the Saiyan part of her was telling her that these humans were weak so it seem like no competition or effort to get rid of Crane, and it was nothing to write home about. So she just took it in stride.

"Please, everybody, it was nothing, really." Gine said.

"Aw, don't act so humbly, who else could take out someone as annoying like Crane?" Yamcha said.

"And, you probrably saved that boy's life." Gohan chimmed in. He looked somewhat disapproving of the scene that Gine caused, but looked happy that Gine had done some great good.

"Thank you, all of you." She said with humility. Then added, "But please, let's just get back to watching the fight."

"Oh, that's right!" Oolong said as they all turned to the ring. Gine was glad she could get their attention off of her, and focused to what really mattered at the moment.

Kakarot was in the middle of attacking Tien, but it seemed like Tien wasn't defending himself at all. He took the blows and was sent into the ground hard.

"What's wrong?" Kakarot asked, "How come you aren't fighting back? You didn't even through a single punch?"

This was a new development, Gine thought.

Tien got up painfully, "I...paid my debt."

"Huh?" They all said.

"Chiaotzu's interference gave me an unfair advantage. Now we are even." Tien said.

Gine couldn't stop liking this guy even more. With such honor he definitely would've made a great Saiyan warrior.

"A very noble gesture." Gohan added. Amen to that, Gine thought.

Tien then looked serious. "Savor this moment, because on my next attack, I will fight full strength, and you will go down."

Chiaotzu cheered him on, but now without any malice. For the first time since they got here, Gine felt like she could actually enjoy the tournament...

Tien outstretched his arms, screaming in pain as his body grew, then out of his shoulders grew another set of arms.

Gine had seen several species of warriors do something similar on the planets she helped conquer, and others that had dozens of limbs to fight with. But everyone seemed to have lost their sanity at the sight of Tien doing it. Even the announcer who has kept his cool throughout the whole tournament looked disturbed. She figured it was not a natural ability for humans to do here. And it seemed to unsettle Gine as well.

 _Almost_ enjoy the tournament, she thought.

"You ready?" Tien asked as he charged after Kakarot.

Kakarot looked taken aback initially as Tien went after him, but adjusted as he learned to counter twice as many limbs to dodge.

"Never had to fight four arms before!" Kakarot said almost conversationally while he slided past punch after grab after chop. But was caught between neckchops from both upper arms. He was now down and knocked silly.

"Don't worry, this won't take long." Tien said as he grabbed each of Kakarot's limbs with a hand and began to pull, Kakarot screamed in pain as Tien tried to pull him apart. Bulma cried at the sight and the others were too disturbed to watch. Gine immediately saw what Kakarot could do but stopped herself from giving it away.

Tien looked sure he was about to break Kakarot. "It's all downhill from he-"

Kakarot's tail, which had been free to move ungrabbed, smacked Tien hard in the face, Tien cried out as he held his bleeding nose. Kakarot giggled like a naughty schoolboy after getting away with something clever.

"Your tail packs quite a punch." Tien said, regaining his senses.

"Can't beat four arms, so I guess I'll try eight!" Kakarot suddenly declared.

"He can't do that...can he?" Oolong asked with a disturbed notion that he hoped that Kakarot couldn't.

Kakarot flexed his arms with superspeed and appeared to have eight arms, Gine knew the superspeed illusion but his friends lost whatever bit of sense of sanity they had with that trick.

Both fighters went after each other with their six sets of arms, trading blows evenly until Kakarot's small size and speed was able to swing under Tien and send him flying away as Kakarot rediverted Tien's center of mass. He may have extra limbs but with the added weight Kakarot could throw him off balance.

Tien got back up after a quick countdown, but looked worse for wear. Kakarot slowed his arms down and reverted back to his quadpeddled self.

"You look tired." Kakarot said almost tauntingly, even though he too was out of breath.

"So do you." Tien pointed. Then charged without warning.

Kakarot saw this coming and slipped under him, kicking the inside of his ankle and sending him down in pain. In a quick motion, Kakarot swing up and over Tien's back and grabbed both of Tien's legs and pulled backwards while sitting on top of Tien while he screamed in agony.

The fight had devolved into them literally tearing each other apart as Kakarot was trying to pull Tien's legs out of their sockets. Tien's upper arms grabbed Kakarot by the neck to choke him, "Surrender if you don't wanna suffocate!" Tien said.

"No, I'm good!" Kakarot croaked out, then his tail wrapped around Tien's neck and squeezed like a vice. Now both combatants were on the ground choking each other with one pulling legs out and choking with a tail while another choked with four arms. Gine had to admit this was a very absurd sight.

Finally, Tien gave in first as his extra pair of arms sank back into his body as Kakarot breathed in fresh air, and continued to trying ripping Tien's legs off.

The announcer walked over and knelt next to Tien writhing on the ground. **"Tell the audience how you feel."** He asked and held the microphone to him.

Tien glared at the announcer. How could he have the nerve?!

 **"MY LEGS ARE BEING PULLED FROM THEIR SOCKETS! HOW DO YOU THINK I FEEL?!"** He shouted into the microphone with a mix of indignity and sheer agony.

The screaming kept building, not sure out of pain or desperation for more strength, but somehow he broke free of Kakarot's leglock and send him flying into the brick wall at the arena entrance, burying himself in rubble.

"You're strong." Kakarot said as he picked himself up from the pile of bricks.

Tien winced trying to stand as well. "That's obvious. Thanks for the stretch, I'm feeling much better. Should you get tired of losing, you'd make a great chiropractor."

"Uh, what's a chiropractor?" Kakarot asked, Tien laughed at him not catching the joke. "You were born to fail, just like all those before me, I cannot be defeated, ever!"

"Why?"

"I no longer wish to kill you, when the time comes, avoid it." Tien said cryptically.

"Huh?' Kakarot said, but that got Gine's attention. What did he mean "avoid it"?

"Tien, NO!" Gine heard Chiaotzu cry out. What was he talking about?

"Do what? Are you okay?" Kakarot asked, but Tien just breathed, then started to float upwards and kept going up until he was a dot in the air. What was he going to do?

"TIEN, THINK THIS THROUGH!" Chiaotzu cried to him again, he sounded very desperate and pleading.

"I don't know what you are planning to do, but get on with it!" Kakarot shouted. "I can take it!"

Tien hovered in his spot, then pressed his fingers together. Gine could feel raw energy gathering within him, and kept going up, and up...

"No, it can't be!" Gohan exclaimed in horror.

"What?!" Gine demanded. "What is he doing?!"

Gohan looked at her with horror. "It's the Tri-Beam! It's such a powerful attack that can obliterate anything the user points it at. But it takes so much energy to use it that it draws up the user's own life force to fire it!"

Gine looked concerned. "You mean...Tien's going to kill himself to kill Kakarot?"

Gohan shook his head uncertainly, but grimly. "It's quite possible. Roshi said it's quite possibly much more powerful than the Kamehameha Wave!"

Now Gine was worried, she looked back at Kakarot looking up at Tien gathering an amount of energy that even she doubted that Kakarot could survive. He didn't even flinch.

But, Tien said he didn't wish to kill Kakarot anymore. What was going on?! She thought panickily.

"KAKAROT!" Tien shouted, his voice now a booming echo with the energy gathering. "YOU CANNOT ESCAPE! GIVE UP NOW, OR BE DESTROYED!"

Kakarot did not hesitate. "I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE! I WILL NEVER GIVE UP!"

"FINE! SO LONG!" Tien answered, as he pressed his fingertips together to form a triangle.

Gine wasn't sure what to do, she knew she could not interfere with this fight. But with the seriousness of Tien, and the fact that this is her only son...

"KAKAROT, NO!" Gine cried out.

 **"TRI-BEAM!"** Tien screamed as a literal wave of energy as bright as the sun had suddenly came raining down on the arena.

Gine could only watch in horror as the attack crashed down on him... until he lept as hard as he could into the air at the last moment. Gine felt a floodgate of relieve open up and poured through her, then she was suddenly knocked back by the flying debris and deafening sound of the explosion.

Gine shielded Gohan as the others ducked for cover from the heat and rocks. When the dust settled they all got back up. When they saw the ring, they gasped.

There was no ring anymore. Just a giant square shaped hole in the ground!

"KAKAROT! KAKAROT WHERE ARE YOU?!" Gine heard Krillin cry out.

"I hate to be the pessimist, but I don't anyone could've survived that..." He said solemly. Chi-chi started to cry softly.

Gine came to her senses and remembered.

"Kakarot's alive." She said without worry. Everyone looked at her like she was insane.

"Look." She said as she pointed up toward the sky.

There he was. He jumped as high as he could at the last second. So that's what Tien meant when he said avoid it.

Now both of them were falling back to the ground. Then it clicked in Gine's mind. There was no arena to land on except deep in the bottomless pit Tien created, so they would have to land outside it. And whoever did so first would be out of bounds... ingenious!

The announcer came out from his hiding spot and saw the two combatants in the sky. How was this guy not dead yet?

 **"I'll be right back, folks!"** The announcer said as he popped open a jet scooter to fly towards the falling pair.

She could tell they were both out of energy and could not keep floating up there forever, one of them is going to fall first. But then, Kakarot turned around, and cupped his hands.

Gine was confused. Was he going to fire a Kamehameha away from Tien?

"HAAAAAA!" She heard him shout from high above as he fired the beam, but it sent him rocketing toward Tien. Kakarot slammed into him with enough force to send both of them flying way out towards the city and out of view.

"After them!" Bulma cried as she charged in the direction of where they flew towards. The rest of the gang, and the audience followed suit. In a few moments it became pandemonium as the tournament goers left the ground in a flood of humanity that shook the streets with it's footfalls, people shoving and pushing to get out of the way and not get run over.

Gine charged after them last once it was safe not get trampled over with Gohan in tow. After a while of sprinting and maneuvering past the rest of the crowd, Gine and the rest of the gang managed to get out onto the street heading towards the specks that were Tien and Kakarot. Their plunge back down to earth nearing its end as they came closer to the street.

Kakarot struck a vehicle before hitting the ground, followed by Tien who just landed on his back.

That was it. Kakarot was out first, Tien won.

When they reached them, they were both out cold and unable to accept their positions. So it still wasn't over yet still.

Gine stood over her son's unconscious, battered form. No matter his injuries, he would live, he was a Saiyan afterall. He even had a slide upward curl in his lips as he lay there knocked out. Even when beaten and bloodied, he looked content. Gine smiled heartedly.

This truly was one hell of a fight, and she was glad he had it.

"You look awful." Krillin joked at Kakarot who couldn't respond. Chi-chi was inconsolable, kneeling by his side balling her eyes out and asking if 'her' Kakarot was dead or not. 'Her's?' Gine thought, then shook it off.

The crowds gathered around them as they lifted Kakarot and Tien to cheer them for such am amazing fight. Then the cheers came for Tien, as he regained consciousness first. Now it was officially over. Tien Shinhan, former student of the Crane Hermit, was now the new Champion.

A large man held up Tien on his shoulders in piggy-back like she used to do with Kakarot as a baby. Everyone then started to applaud, "Three cheers for Tien Shinhan!" Someone would shout. Another would say, "I'm your biggest fan!" Then another, ""Way to go, Tien!" Even Chiaotzu had made it out to the street to greet his friend.

The slow clapping and cheering turned into a chorus of praise for him and his turn away from the darkness. He looked so humbled it almost looked like he was going to cry.

Deep down, Gine was glad for this ending to such a dramatic showdown. Seeing this man turn from a ruthless minion to an honorable warrior was so heartbreakingly inspiring that it seemed fitting for him to be lifted up and declared a hero of the day. Now she saw why Kakarot loved this tournament.

She somehow thought of how they imagined this world would be when she and Bardock first chose this planet to escape to, thinking there would be nothing here. Oh she wished Bardock could see how different this place was. The intelligence gathered by the Planet Trade Organization did no justice for this world at all for the Earthlings, and what truly amazing things they were capable of. And to think she choose this planet by chance with what little info they had that day so long ago.

But those thoughts turned dark as she remembered Bardock, Planet Vegeta, Raditz. That was another lifetime ago, and tried to blot out those memories and get back to the present.

She knelt by Kakarot snoring away on the street, splayed and his gi tattered surrounded by his friends and family. "I'm so proud of you." She said to him as she stroked his face, he twitched and started to come to as the cheers for Tien Shinhan went on around them.

This here, this is what really mattered. Her little champion.

* * *

Later that afternoon, they all gathered to say their goodbyes.

Gine was utterly exhausted. The sensory overload of being around so many people, so many loud sounds, the drama of the victories and defeats, and the grievances caused by Crane had drained Gine's emotional strength away and has left her hanging on by a thread to just not collapse where she stood. She was so glad she got to see this tournament with Kakarot, but was just as happy to go back to their peacefully isolated mountain home as soon as possible.

Kakarot finished drowning himself in fresh clean water to wash and hydrate himself. "See you all in three years!" He called out to the announcer. Kakarot then changed out of his torn gi, borrowing Krillin's while he fitted himself into a nice formal suit for someone as small as him.

"That was an amazing tournament with thrilling fights! I'm sure gonna miss it very much." Roshi said almost reminiscently, as if for Jacky Chun instead of himself.

"The finale was close. It was just bad luck that you hit that truck." Said Krillin.

Kakarot waved that off. "Aw, it's okay. I had a lot of fun!"

Gohan smiled at that. "And that's all that matters."

Gine sort of agreed, if it had less drama. But she couldn't stop herself from telling her how happy she was at seeing Kakarot do so well.

"I'm so proud of you, Kakarot." She said for the nth time since Kakarot woke up. But it was just as true as the first.

"Thanks, mom." Kakarot said warmly as he hugged her tightly.

Then she looked toward Krillin, then Chi-chi, then Yamcha, and even knowingly towards Roshi. "And to all of you, you all fought so amazingly well."

"Thanks, Gine." Krillin said, "You did really well too with kicking Crane's butt!"

Gine still felt uncomfortable with them singing her praises about that, but accepted it politely. "Oh please, it was nothing. You did really well fighting against Chiaotzu and Kakarot! It takes a lot of strength, courage, and wits to get as far as you did against the foes you had."

Krillin blushed at being praised too, "Ah, shucks." He said, and scratched the back of his head as Kakarot would. Gine found it quite adorable that he shared the same uncomfortableness as she did.

"And how inspiring it was to see someone like Tien turn into a good guy, something you don't see everyday." Gohan added. That indeed was very true, especially for someone like a Saiyan to see.

Roshi looked over Gine's shoulder and perked up. "Ah, speaking of whom!"

Gine turned around and saw Tien and Chiaotzu walking up to them. They no longer exuded an air of hostility as they did with Crane around. Now they felt calm, and even benevolent.

He looked at her for a moment, and for a moment she wondered what he was going to say or do. Even if he did turn away from the darkness and let go of his vendetta against her son, she still broke his rib even if he was defending a master he would abandon.

He looked away and then back at Kakarot.

"Kakarot, Listen." Tien addressed him. "I've been thinking about it and there's something I want you to have." He handed Kakarot a thick envelope.

"Tien, that's your prize money isn't it?" Kakarot asked incredulously.

"It's no big deal, I just think you should take half. We both know that if you hadn't hit that truck, you would've won. You are the stronger one of us."

Kakarot only thought about it for a second, then handed his envelope back to Tien. "No thanks, I appreciate the offer but I wouldn't know what to spend it on anyway." Gine was so touched by how unendingly kind Kakarot was, and by this gesture from Tien himself.

"Yeah, but-" Tien started to protest but Roshi spoke up.

"Tien it's true luck helped you win, but don't let it discount your achievement. In fact luck and strength go hand in hand sometimes."

"And I learned a lot from our fight." Kakarot chimed in.

"There you are!" Came from Bulma and the rest of the gang as they joined them. Yamcha clutched up to Tien, he couldn't look Yamcha in the eye.

"You fought well, really." Yamcha said softly and genuinely. Tien didn't know what to say, but looked ashamed.

"Uh, thank you. I'm sorry about your leg. I did a lot of terrible things during the last few days."

"No big deal, bones heal like everything else." Yamcha said, meaning what he said.

Tien was taken aback, not expecting forgiveness. but Yamcha wasn't finished. "But next tournament, I expect a rematch, deal?"

Now Tien knew what he would say. "Of course!"

Roshi decided to change the topic. "So what will you do now? Three years is a long time until the next tournament. You can stay with me if you wish, just have to put up with Launch's terrible cooking."

"I heard that!" Launch said angrily, everyone flinched.

"I appreciate the offer." Tien said politely, "But even though we went against Shen, we can't switch schools, we'll find a home somewhere."

Roshi nodded understandingly "As you wish." Then turned to everyone. "Anyway, why don't we take advantage of the local cuisine and celebrate your victory with a feast!"

"SOUNDS GREAT!" Everyone chanted, even Gine. For she could still never turn down a free meal. Then Roshi turned to Tien and Chiaotzu.

"You two can join us if you want." He offered.

Tien looked surprised and delighted. "Sure! But on one condition: that I treat."

They were all taken aback by his generosity. To pay for them all? Even two hungry Saiyans?

"That's very kind of you, Tien. But there is no need for that." Roshi said warmly.

"Nonsense!" Said Tien. "I wish to treat you all after such a taxing but amazing tournament. And besides, the prize money is mine to do as I please, right?" He added playfully.

"Hmmm, very well then. It's a deal!" Said Roshi.

"Guess you got to spend your quarter of a million zeni afterall!" Krillin joked to Kakarot.

Even Gine inwardly poked fun at Tien's foolhearty offer to pay. Feeding two hungry Saiyans will be quite a nasty surprise.

They all started to walk towards the direction of a different restaurant they would dine at. Gine walked with Kakarot beside her and Tien not too far beside Kakarot. It then became apparent to Gine that after Tien had apologized for everything he had done, she felt like she ought to say something too. She wasn't sure by the way Tien looked at her that he thought the same thing, so she started to feel a little uncomfortable as they walked in almost complete silence.

When they arrived at the restaurant a few minutes later, Kakarot stopped as he suddenly remembered something. "Wait! I forgot my Power Pole! I left it at the stadium, I'll be right back."

Kakarot turned to go but Krillin stopped him. "Don't worry Kakarot, I'll get it." He offered.

Her son was still not convinced. "No, it's something I should look after."

"No, no. I'll get it Kakarot. It's no big deal. You fought so hard today, and you deserve to rest, have fun, and a wonderful feast!" Krillin insisted. "I didn't do anything today, so I'll get it for you, okay? I already know where it is."

Kakarot thought for a long moment, still wishing to go. But relented in the end.

"Oh alright, we'll wait until you get back, okay?!" Kakarot said.

"Sounds good! I'll be back soon!" Krillin said, smiling. He then ran off back to where they came. For some reason Gine found peculiar, Kakarot starred after him for a long while until he disappeared from view.

Gine had just got settled into her seat and they all agreed to wait for Krillin to show up to eat, as she was painfully taught by Gohan to be good manners among humans. She figured it was dumb etiqute, but could see how it could make sense to a Saiyan if one ate all the food before his or her comrade came in. Would be a very rude thing to do indeed.

Tien sat next to her at the edge of the table while Kakarot sat on her other side, looking off into the distance.

Gine fidgeted with the silverware as she glanced up at Tien every now and then, unsure how she would-

"Er, Mrs.?" Tien said to her.

Gine looked at Tien somewhat affrightedly that he addressed her.

Tien looked away briefly, as if unsure what to say. Then said, "I would like to apologize to you about all the grief I and my former master caused you over your son."

Gine was taken aback by this, thinking she should apologize to him first. But, she smiled at him though.

"It's alright." She said softly, then figured she might as well too. "If anything, I should apologize to you about hurting your rib."

Tien looked at her with gentleness and understanding. "That's alright too. If anything I deserve it for serving such a horrible person as him..." He said, almost angrily.

Gine shook her head. "No, no, no. Don't beat yourself up over it." She said. She then realized it sounded like something Gohan would say to her whenever she talked of her previous life. Come to think of it, she still beat herself up over it today. And wasn't sure if she should be saying the same to Tien.

She dropped that train of thought before it spiraled into a rabbit hole, and smiled a friendly smile. "The past is the past now." Also something Gohan would say, but went with it.

Tien took in her words and smiled too. "You're right. The past is the past." Then extended his hand to her. "Thank you, er… I'm sorry, but, what is your name?"

"Gine." She said as she shook Tien's hand.

"Nice to meet you, Gine." Tien said, formal introducing himself.

"Nice to meet you too, Tien." She replied.

"Kakarot is your son, yes?" He asked.

"Indeed he is." Gine answered.

Tien chuckled, "Then I guess I see how he gets his strength. You truly are his martial arts partner?"

"Well, sort of." Gine answered, "Roshi is his formal teacher, he just learned it from me and Gohan here." She pointed toward him.

Gohan bowed towards Tien, he returned the gesture.

"I've heard of you, Master Son Gohan." Tien said.

"Oh you have?" He replied.

Tien affirmed and proceeded to tell how he heard of Gohan's exploits as a martial artist when he was younger, then turning to martial arts in general as they waited for Krillin to return.

Gine liked the chitchat, but didn't want to talk too much about how strong she was when they fought or her and Kakarot's Saiyan heritage. So she and Gohan answered as best they could without opening more questions from Tien.

A half hour had passed and Krillin still didn't return yet. They all started to wonder aloud what was taking him so long. He may have gotten lost or sidetracked, but either way, Tien said they could eat if they want and will save a dish for Krillin when he returned.

Kakarot looked disturbed, sitting by Gine and not even touching all the food that was brought out to him.

Now something was really wrong. Kakarot NEVER turned down food even when he wasn't hungry.

"Kakarot?" She asked gingerly as she put her hand on his shoulder.

He suddenly bolted up, "KRILLIN!" He screamed. Then he leapt off his chair and dashed for the door.

"Kakarot?!" Gine shouted after him. Now she was beyond worried.

She got up and chased after him. Everyone was shocked by this upset and unsure what to make of her son's sudden behavior, but they all got up as well and followed behind her.

Gine made it out onto the street, trying to catch up with Kakarot but he was far ahead of her with a head start.

Suddenly Gine heard a cry in the distance. One she had become far too familiar from her planet purging days. The cry of someone being murdered.

Gine's heart pounded, a dread sinking in when she suspected who that cry belonged too. And prayed as she ran that it wasn't true.

She rounded a corner towards the tournament grounds and then stopped.

Gine gasped and held her hands to her mouth in shock and sorrow.

Kakarot knelt beside Krillin laying on the floor, dead.

* * *

 **And that's where we are going to be leaving things for right now!**

 **Thank you for being so patient with me in getting these chapters out, and hopefully this chapter (and saga) wasn't too long. But now onto the next one where things really begin to pick up as Gine must now confront the new threat of King Piccolo!**

 **See you next chapter!**


	11. CHAPTER 10: ENTER KING PICCOLO

**Hello again! Now that the last chapter ended with a shocking discovery, what will happen now?!**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 10: ENTER KING PICCOLO

Kakarot cradled the body of his best friend in his arms, his face uncomprehending.

Krillin was dead. From the look of him, his frontal lobe had been smashed in. His eyes were blank but his face was frozen in fear from the last thing he saw. Gine knew that lingering final expression all too well.

She stood behind her son, her heart constricting in anguish at taking in the sight.

Gine had dealt with loss. She was a Saiyan afterall, and Gine had lost comrades in battle more times than she cared to remember. But now, all those deaths she experienced did not strike to her core as much as what she was seeing before her.

Maybe it was the fifteen years of the most peaceful living she had ever known that made her forget the pain and horror of death, but that wasn't just it. She knew this sweet little boy from Kakarot's heartwarming tales of his adventures around the Earth. She had the joy to finally meet him, talk with him of his and her son's exploits through his words, see him fight, and bond with him as she did with all of Kakarot's friends, _her_ friends now too. A mischievous kind soul who would never wish ill on anyone. Only minutes ago alive and laughing.

There was a commotion behind Gine as the rest of the gang came into the temple grounds. Master Roshi, Tien, and Gohan stopped beside her. Roshi looked gut-punched when he saw his student lay lifeless on the floor.

"What happened, Kakarot?!" Yamcha asked, as he and Bulma came in last, his broken leg slowing him down.

"Oh no!" Oolong cried out, as Launch and Puar came up on Gine's other side. Chi-chi ran past Gine and stopped behind Kakarot, gasping when she saw what happened.

"Krillin..." Kakarot finally said, his voice flat. "He's dead."

Everyone gasped in shock. They stood where they were for a long few moments, not believing what they were seeing and hearing.

"It-It can't be true! IT can't!" Yamcha shouted in horror.

Though still in shock, Gine noticed the blonde announcer was on the floor too. He looked battered and sounded terrified when he started babbling at them.

"It-it was a monster! A hideous monster!"

"Easy." Tien kneeled down and placed a hand on his shoulder to try and comfort him, but the announcer went on.

"It took a strange ball covered with stars, and a list of the Martial Arts Society!"

"A dragon ball?" Gohan realized.

"By a monster?" Roshi asked as well. The announcer looked over towards Krillin's body.

"Krillin tried to stop the beast, but it was too strong... that boy fought with everything he had."

Gine heard him but didn't take her eyes off her son. Kakarot started convulsing, his tail frayed and twitched as he couldn't hold back his sobs.

It was then that Gine realized Kakarot had experienced, for the first time in his life, losing someone dear to him. Back on planet Vegeta, a moment like this would've happened much sooner in Kakarot's life, but ever since they came to Earth, she prayed it never would.

But now it has. Krillin was truly gone, Kakarot couldn't save him in time. And who or whatever did this was still out there somewhere.

"Oh, Kakarot..." Gine said softly, a lump in her throat formed as she felt sorrow and anger overtake her as well. "I'm so sorry."

Chi-chi slowly and somewhat affrightedly walked up behind Kakarot as if to try and comfort him as well.

"Kakarot..." She tried to say. But then he shot up, clenching his fists with rage.

 **"HE DIDN"T DESERVE THIS!"** He screamed.

Kakarot grabbed his Power Pole off the ground, and turned towards the gang with determination in his eyes. He didn't acknowledge his mother or Chi-chi behind him.

"Bulma, do you have the dragon radar on you?!" He demanded.

The poor girl was still too shocked to answer, so she just pulled out the device from her pocket wordlessly. Kakarot suddenly ran past her, snatching the radar out of her hand without stopping.

"Stay with Krillin, mom!" He called out behind him.

"Kakarot, wait!" Roshi cried out from behind Gine. Kakarot didn't heed his master's command and kept running out.

"Don't try to stop me!" Kakarot yelled back over his shoulder.

"Stop! THAT'S AN ORDER!" Roshi shouted, as ferociously as a master could shout to a student. But Kakarot kept running as he brushed past the temple's entrance, knocking over the entrance sign.

Before anyone knew it, he was already out of sight.

* * *

Gine and everyone else starred at where Kakarot ran off to into the late afternoon sun.

"Impetuous!" Roshi cursed, then turned to Gine.

"That thing was strong enough to kill Krillin, and now your boy is running off right after a big match!"

She and Gohan shared a look when they knew what he meant.

"Kakarot didn't have a chance to eat or rest since the final match." Gohan said as he caught on, "He may not have much energy left to defeat whatever it was that attacked Krillin!"

Gine realized that as well, but she also knew that didn't mean Kakarot would be done for. Her son may be too caught up in the moment, but he wasn't stupid when it came to matters of survival. She and Gohan taught him better than that. He'll find a way to deal with that.

Roshi nodded in grave confirmation to Gohan's deduction, then added "We can only hope that he either comes to his senses soon or prevails, somehow..."

Gine looked at the Turtle Hermit for a long second.

"Don't worry about him." Gine then said curtly, garnering a look of surprise from both Gohan and Roshi.

"Kakarot will be fine, he knows his limits." She said as if it were a matter of fact. She knew they meant well, but to say that something was a lost cause before even doing it was the most pitiful thing one could say to a Saiyan.

Roshi looked at her incredulously. "Didn't you just hear what I said?! Kakarot shouldn't just run off unprepared to fight something that killed someone as strong as Krillin!"

"You're already talking as if he was dead. He is a Saiyan warrior! You know what he is capable of and how he can take care of himself!" Gine shot back.

"That doesn't mean he should just run off when I tell him to stay! Don't you care what happens to him?!"

Gine turned to face Master Roshi fully, feeling anger rising in her. "He has the right to avenge his friend! And how **dare** you ask me if I care for my own son!"

Roshi and Gine locked eyes, neither backing down from pressing their points.

"Please!" Gohan exclaimed as he pressed himself between them.

Gine and Roshi snapped out of their revere. "Are you seriously going to squabble right here?!" He begged of them, gesturing towards Tien cradling Krillin's body, having closed his eyes out of respect.

Gine and Roshi looked down at their feet and at each other ashamed, arguing while a child lay dead before them.

"He was a brave soldier." Tien said with absolute conviction.

They all nodded. Gine could not deny it either, even for a human child, Krillin truly was strong.

"One kick to the frontal lobe, from the looks of it." Said Tien, observing Krillin's body.

"Are you serious?! Someone with Krillin's strength killed with one kick?!" Yamcha exclaimed in disbelief.

"It happens." Gohan said gravely.

"Who could be so cruel?" Chiaotzu asked, a question that burned desperately in everyone's hearts.

Oolong had walked back toward the group from where Krillin lay earlier, with something in his hand. "I found this piece of paper laying on the ground next to him. Do you think it has anything to do with it?"

Bulma took the piece of paper and read it aloud.

"It's the word 'Devil', circled." She said, as Gine and Yamcha tried to read it over her shoulder.

The sound of Roshi's cane hitting the ground reached her ears when he was suddenly behind them, his face ashen.

"LET ME SEE!" He demanded urgently. Gine was taken aback, she had never seen this perpetually relaxed teacher so scared.

Bulma handed it to him and he read it. Gohan, concerned over his former master's look of terror, came up beside it and read it too.

Both Roshi and Gohan turned white.

"It-It can't be! It's impossible!" Roshi uttered, his hands gripping the paper and trembling.

Everyone was now worried. Whatever it was that managed to shake two of the most respected Martial Arts masters on Earth, it must have been extremely serious.

"What is it, Roshi?" Bulma asked, now truly afraid. Gine was disturbed too. But all she heard was Roshi muttering one word to himself.

"Piccolo..."

They all stood there for a long time, wondering what to say.

"Master Roshi?" Turtle broke the silence, and braved to ask what it was. Roshi didn't seem to acknowledge Turtle, but answered.

"This is the crest...of King Piccolo." He said, shuddering.

"King Piccolo?!" Everyone repeated, unsure if they heard that name correctly.

Gohan shuttered too, and turned towards his master. "The...very same that claimed, your former Master, sir?"

Roshi nodded slowly. "The very same..."

They both looked back at the paper, petrified and not believing what lay in their hands.

"Someone actually admits to having that name?" Launch said disbelievingly, she was the only one who didn't feel the least bit worried about what it all meant.

"I've heard that name." Said Tien. Everyone turned to him.

"It's a legendary creature that was said to have thrown the world in the depths of terror, ages ago." He said.

"It's true." Roshi said. He starred off towards the horizon. Talking to them but not seeing them, as if looking back in time.

"His name may sound funny, but I assure you that there is nothing humorous about that savage beast. With him, came darkness and chaos. His minions of terror reeked havoc across the planet, destroying all in their path with indiscriminate fury. No one knew where they came from or what they wanted, but they were here, laughing as our world crumbled around them..."

Gine felt a cold chill run through her, this type of genocide sounded all too familiar.

"Piccolo and his army destroyed one city after another with no one to oppose him, save for one school of meager but determined martial artists which I was a part of. When the horde closed in, we banded together for one final assault to push back against the demon king's evil forces. Though hopelessly outnumbered, we were united. And with our combined strength, we offered a formidable defense. Many great demons fell that day, but even more great men fell along side them..." Roshi paused, his eyes glistened as if remembering those who faught and died beside him. Gine felt a moment of kindred spirit with him.

"When the battle was over, there was only myself and the Crane Hermit left standing. But our skirmish barely put a dent in Piccolo's forces. Desperate and out of time, we concentrated our energy into a shield that absorbed the horde's attack, and reflected back at them. One bright light, that's all I remember. By some luck, it worked as the horde was vanquished somehow. We thought it was all over, but it turned out the horde was just an opening act for the demon king himself. We barely got a glimpse of his ugly mug before he simply dismissed us with a wave of his hand. We were but rag dolls caught in a storm."

No one spoke as he talked, Gine both captivated and uncomfortably reminded by the fact that the infodump's only info on Earth's population was during some sort of crisis almost a hundred years ago, during which almost half the planet's population was dead. Was this what it was referring ?

Roshi continued. "Shen and I were young and in our prime, we gave everything we had but still King Piccolo prevailed. All those lives lost and we didn't even lay a scratch on him! He was immune to anyone, even Mutaito!"

"Who's Mutaito?" Bulma asked.

"He was my master." He said, almost mournfully. "Shen's as well."

"Crane never mentioned him before." Tien added.

Roshi nodded. "No, I'm sure he didn't. This was a very long time ago. And Mutaito was by far the greatest Martial Artist who ever lived. For he faced Piccolo himself, but even he was still defeated and nearly beaten to death until Shen and I rescued him. We nearly lost him, but thanks to a strong immune system and my extraordinary bedside manner, Master Mutaito made a full recovery. But I suppose exterior wounds heal faster than those we keep inside. For my master, the shame of being dishonored in front of his students, and the loss of the ones he couldn't protect was more than he could bare. So, unwilling to continue his teaching, he left. Hoping that time could heal what his heart could not."

"It's strange picturing you and the Crane Hermit as friends." Yamcha said, "And what you went through, I had no idea."

"Neither did I." Said Tien. "Crane Hermit never spoke of his past. Not to us."

"Yeah." Chiaotzu confirmed.

"Something changed in Shen that day. I could see it in his eyes." Roshi explained. "It was as if goodness itself had betrayed him. Whether it was our master's leaving or the alluring power of evil, who knows. He snapped, and the man I once knew as my friend was gone. Another casualty..." He said, staring off into the horizon.

Gine thought for a moment about Crane. How he, the human she had beaten and broken and almost killed for him trying to murder her son, one of the few people trying to save the world. A funny, but sad thought. And she felt somewhat guilty for hurting him after what little good he tried to do...

"Gee, that's too bad." Oolong said, interrupting their thoughts. Gine glared at him when he didn't notice and asked, "So what happened next? Did you defeat King Piccolo?"

"I didn't. Piccolo continued his rampage across the globe, covering the land with fire and ash. Unable to defeat him, I fled-"

"You ran?! I would've stood my ground." Oolong interrupted again, Roshi wheeled around to face him.

"Obviously you've never fought a titan before! If flesh and blood were as strong as pride, we'd all be invincible!"

Gohan nodded at that, then Roshi continued. "Fortunately I found refuge in the mountains, where I continued my training as best as I could. But as the years passed, I lost hope and begun to feel the weight of my solitude. But then one day, that hope returned when my mentor Mutaito found me again. He had spent his time away strengthening his abilities, and in doing so, discovered a way to defeat King Piccolo for good. By trapping King Piccolo in something called the Evil Containment Wave. A powerful magical ability allowing you to ensnare any entity of pure evil in it's wake into a specifically made physical container. For King Piccolo, my master acquired an electric cooking jar which he imprisoned Piccolo's essence and body. He had been defeated once and for all, sealed away from the rest of the world. But the energy it took to accomplish that required my master to use his own life force, and died from the battle. He had regained his honor, and saved the people of Earth by giving his life..." Roshi closed his moisture-clouded eyes as a tear fell. Gine never imagined this pervert, could hold such pain and history.

After a moment, he opened his eyes again and finished his tale. "As for Piccolo, I obeyed my master's final wish and threw the jar into the sea so he could never escape. No one has seen or heard of Piccolo since...until today."

"Oh no!" Chiaotzu realized. "What if Crane Hermit found it and opened it again?!"

Roshi turned to them, "No, Shen more than anyone knows the danger of releasing King Piccolo from his prison."

"But, master, the note and the description of the monster suggests that it could be one of Piccolo's minions." Said Yamcha.

Now everyone else was worried, that Piccolo was bad enough without an army. "Where did you say those mountains were?" Asked Oolong half-jokingly.

"If that is the case, then Kakarot is in grave danger..." Gohan whispered. Gine looked at him despairingly. She could believe the horror this Piccolo had caused for Roshi and Gohan to feel frightened. This planet was full of surprises. If someone as powerful as them felt as if they were no match for Piccolo, then she started to regret letting her son go on his own.

"What will we do if the monsters come back?!" Panicked Puar.

"This is horrible." Said Turtle, sinking into despair.

"Even if King Piccolo is responsible, there's a chance Kakarot won't be able to find him." Added Tien.

"Don't bet on it pal, that's why he took Bulma's dragon radar." Launch said.

But then that raised another question. "What's he after? I understand taking the dragon ball. But why steal a list of the Martial Arts Society" Roshi asked himself aloud.

"Wait a minute!" Shouted Tien. "What's all this talk about dragons? Or radars, or balls! What's that got to do with anything?!"

There was a collective sigh, they haven't explained the dragon balls to Tien or Chiaotzu yet.

"Kakarot, what are you getting yourself into..." Roshi said. Then thought for a long moment...

"AGH!" He realized with horror.

"You don't need to shout, I'm right here!" Complained Oolong.

"That's why they took that list!" He said.

"WHO?!" Said everyone.

"It was King Piccolo, somehow he escaped. Knowing that it was a fighter who used the Evil Containment Wave to trap him in his prison, he stole the list to learn of his enemies."

"I get it!" Said Yamcha. "With a phonebook of his enemies he could easily track them down!"

"And he guards against the Waves by killing those who know how to use it!" Finished Tien.

"Exactly!"

"If only there was some way to warn Kakarot before it's too late." Realized Gohan, but then knew it was futile. After this much time figuring out the responsible party for Krillin's demise, Kakarot could be anywhere over a hundred miles of where they were now.

"Oh no..." Bulma said in despair. "It's all my fault. I shouldn't have given him the dragon radar."

"It isn't your fault... Kakarot made his own choice, as did Krillin." Said Roshi mournfully. "There's no excuses, its just fate."

"What the hell is wrong with all of you?!" Gine suddenly said. They all started at her agape.

"You sound like you've given up already!" She said in outrage.

"I'm sorry, but Kakarot is most likely gone." Roshi said.

"That's not true! How could you say such a thing when he just barely left or found his body!" She pressed, disgust in her voice but frightened by that idea. Oolong joined in too.

"Why do you expect Kakarot to fail? You should have more faith in him!"

"That's right!" Added Puar.

Roshi nodded, "I agree that there is always a chance, but there is not much more that we can do but return to my island. We have to bury Krillin, the rest can wait."

Gine couldn't stand any of this defeatist talk. Yamcha couldn't either. "I never thought I could hate someone I never met before, but King Piccolo is an animal! Once I'm through with him, he'll wish he just stayed in that jar!"

Bulma wheeled around to face her boyfriend. "You sound like Kakarot, what's wrong with you?! That monster is too powerful, you'll just get yourself killed too!"

Yamcha looked at her seriously, "That list he took has my name on it, Bulma. And I'm not just going to sit around and let him find me!" He then turned to the rest of the gang.

"Chi-chi, Tien, and Chiaotzu. You are all on the list as well. Even if Kakarot does fail, this Piccolo will come after us either way.

Bulma looked defeated, but Yamcha was right.

"At least he'll never hunt for pigs! We're cute!" Quipped Oolong. But Bulma raged at him. "YOU'LL END UP THE MAIN COURSE ON HIS DINNER TABLE YOU OINKER!"

"No one is safe, King Piccolo's ambition does not allow for bystanders. Should he gain dominion over our world again, all will be lost. What his nightmarish flames don't scorch, his legions will devour."

Gine couldn't believe it. How could this day have turned so irrevocably dark? Just earlier they were celebrating a tournament of amazing battles and drama that had tested her emotional limits of dealing with people. And now, with her son's best friend murdered, and on top of being pushed to her breaking point of the rollercoaster ride of emotions the events of the tournament put her through, they were now facing a long dormant evil threatening to destroy their world. It would almost seem like some cosmic joke was being played on them, but it wasn't funny.

Roshi, and almost everyone was already accepting the end of the world. She was instantly reminded of the day Bardock told her that Frieza was going to destroy their planet. She remembered that fear she felt on that day, for her life, and for her children. To die by the hands of the being who's biding they did. What everyone was feeling now. Somehow she also thought of the fear of all the planets she helped conquer.

All this time she thought she would be away from that. All the pain, suffering, and destruction that sounded all too familiar to her. Everything that was done in the name of Frieza, the countless planets purged of all life. Nothing but death and destruction while the inhabitants could do nothing but die a hopeless defense of their worlds.

She then thought of the planet she stood upon now. The most beautiful blue orb she had ever known, filled with untold wonders of life, that led them to the miracle of Gohan who adopted her and her son when they had no where else to go. The one place in the universe that she called her true home. The place that saved her in every way a person could be saved.

"There will be no quarter, no haven." Roshi continued, crestfallen. His words blending in with the images playing in Gine's head.

Earth. Her home, fallen in the way countless others before it fell to Frieza, and like Planet Vegeta. Cities reduced to rubble, forests blackened and burnt, continents cratered, oceaned evaporated and running red with blood. So many bodies, inhabitants slaughtered without mercy. Men, women, children, elderly, animals. Lucky enough to not be kept for slavery or torture.

Then her friends, her son, Gohan, Paozu, and everything she had come to love so dearly...

"Complete genocide..."

Even without Frieza following her across the galaxy, this curse of destruction will fall on Earth too...

"No..." Said Gine softly, clenching her fists.

"Hm?" Roshi turned to her.

Gine looked at Roshi dead in the eye.

"It will not come to that. Not if I have anything to say about it."

Everyone looked at her like she was crazy.

"I wish I shared your determination, Gine. But the situation is far more dire than you could imagine. There is no way we can defeat King Piccolo-"

"I'll face him myself."

Everyone exclaimed in shock.

"Are you insane?!" Roshi yelled at her. "Do you and Kakarot have a death wish?! I told you there is no way you can defeat Piccolo! My Master, Mutaito, was the greatest warrior Earth has ever known, a hundred times stronger than me and even he died trying to defeat him!"

Gine rushed Roshi and shoved him against the wall of the temple grounds, the bricks crumbling from the impact while she held him against the wall by his suit. Everyone backed away in horror, and even Roshi was amazed by how fast and strong she was. Gine gave him a deadly glare and she caught a hint of fear in his eyes, hoping that he now knew that if she felt so inclined, she could pulverize him where he stood.

The moment lasted only a moment when Roshi realized she won't do it, then glowered at her. "Let go of me!"

Gine dropped him and Gohan rushed to his side. Gine immediately felt ashamed for what she did, but she hoped it got the message across.

"I'm so sorry master." Gohan dusted off Roshi, and he starred at Gine.

She softened her expression, but spoke seriously. "I mean no disrespect to you or your old master, but I am a Saiyan. I am not like any warrior on this planet, and I am by far the strongest on it as well. I will deal with this threat myself. I will not let this world that has given me and my son a second chance at life fall to ruin at the hands of some monster."

Roshi straightened out his suit and put his hat on, then sneered to Gine. "Even if you are strong enough to defeat me or even Master Mutaito, there's still no guarantee Piccolo could be beaten. You may be able to grind me to dust but you are far too brash and let your emotions dictate your actions. And if that's all you got, then we don't have much to go with."

Gine gritted her teeth. Was this human really going to put her down too?! At least Gohan tried to help her control those even in her worst training moments.

Before Gine could entertain the urge to punch Roshi's face in to demonstrate how she could grind him to literal bloody dust, Gohan stepped in. "Eh, master. Please listen and hear her out on this. I know I've told you how strong she is, and how we've been training for all these years. If she has been holding back on me as much as she says she has, then she is the one Piccolo should be afraid of, not the other way around."

Gine blushed at that praise, and chuckled uncomfortably. Tien walked up to Roshi, looking at Gine as if he had a lot of new realizations and questions about her.

"Er, I have to agree with Gohan. If our little altercation a few days ago and how she dealt with Crane was anything to go by, then I was foolish to think I was equal to her son. If he says he wishes she can be as strong as her, I can only imagine how powerful she herself must be."

"I like her idea! She's the strongest person anyone every knew!" Said Chi-chi, the Oolong added "Hey, yeah. She's awesome!" Then Launch, "Awesome? She's kickass!" Then everyone else gave some cheer for her one way or another. Gine got more uncomfortable from all the praise, but she thanked them for all their support and was glad she was able to lift them out of feeling impending doom.

But Roshi still wasn't convinced. "Even so, I still don't know who you are or can entirely trust you with the fate of our world. So we'll have to find another way."

Fine, if he was stubborn about that, Gine decided to entertain that idea.

"So, this Evil Containment Wave your old master used to trap King Piccolo the first time around seemed to work pretty well. Why don't we use it instead?" She asked Roshi

Roshi looked defeated. "I've only seen it once. Master Mutaito died before he had a chance to teach it to me properly. Even if I did know it, it would require me to use all my life energy to use it, and die in the process."

"Oh." Tien said, as if he was about to ask the same thing, and had his idea shot down for him.

"Well then I'll still fight Piccolo. Even if I don't win, it beats curling up into a ball and giving up!" She admonished.

"Yeah!" Launch, Yamcha, Chi-chi, and Tien agreed. Roshi still didn't looked convinced. But she could tell his resolution was fading. What better idea did he have anyway?

Gine turned to Bulma. "Bulma, do you have another dragon ball radar?"

Bulma was still dazed by everything that was happening, but shook her head. "No, the one Kakarot took was the only one."

"Can you construct a new one?" Gine asked.

"Uh, sure. Why?"

Gine explained as a plan fell into place in her head. "That thing that killed Krillin took the dragon ball as well. If it's King Piccolo and if he's after them, he'll have to find the others. If he gets all of them, then we will surely be doomed if he makes a wish to dominate the world."

They looked at her trying to see where she was going with this train of thought, then Chi-chi caught on. "Oh I see! He won't be able to use them if we find at least one of them!"

"That's right!" Gine smiled, "And since Kakarot has the other radar looking for the stolen ball, we might be able to find him as well. And if we do, it might lead us to Piccolo. And when we do, I will take him down."

Gohan nodded, smiling at how Gine already has them hopeful and a means to confront the demon king set in motion. And as terrified Piccolo makes him, he somehow had a feeling that Gine's true strength will come through. From all the times she almost killed him in training and her holding back, he might get a glimpse of her true Saiyan power.

Then Gine turned back to Bulma, "So, Bulma, would you be able to construct a new one as quickly as possible?"

"Oh yes, definitely!"

"How soon?" Gine asked.

"Well, if I hurry I could probrably make one in half a day."

"Then get to it, the sooner it gets done the better. We'll head out and find them as soon as you are finished."

"Got it!" Bulma said determinedly. "Just need to find a quiet place to assemble it!"

Gine nodded, then turned to Roshi.

"With that in mind, we can head to your island so we can find a safe place to make the radar, rest, and pay our respects to Krillin as you wanted." She said to him politely.

Master Roshi looked at her distrustfully and sighed through his nostrils. He was the master here and ought to be the one to know what to do, and who made this woman in charge?!

But he found himself unable to rebuke her. He had to respect that Gine was ready to deal with this threat even if she had no idea what she was up against. He figured she was probably where Kakarot inherited his headstrongness.

 _Could it be possible?_ He dared to ask himself. With the hinted-at stories Gohan told him that she was once a planet purger, she could put her experience in battle to use. And as much as he hated to admit it, he truly knew how strong she was. Not even Mutaito could come close to her.

But whatever the possibility was to defeat Piccolo, he won't argue with her with the fact that it was better than just waiting for the monster to conquer the world again.

"Very well then, let's all head there and regroup." He caved in.

"Uh, excuse me, but it seems clear that this seems like a matter for the police to handle." Said the announcer. Gine almost forgot that he was there with them too.

"Under normal circumstances, yes." Roshi acknowledged, "But local law enforcement is very ill-equipped to deal with this kind of crisis."

"Then who?!" He asked incredulously.

"It's up to us." Said Gine.

"Really?!"

"Yes." Gohan backed her up. "As Tien pointed out, he has been defeated before. He is not invincible. If Kakarot comes back this way, can you tell him we went back home to Master Roshi's island?"

"I understand, if theres anyone who can save us, I think its all of you."

Gine inexplicably felt a warmth with a icy prickling with it spread through her heart at those words. To think that she had gone from a planet purger to a savior, an idea mixed with such painful reminders was a strange feeling she had no idea how to digest.

As quickly as the moment came, she suppressed it. Gine wouldn't get too deep into that feeling yet. They still had to save the Earth first.

Launch walked over to Tien and he handed her Krillin's covered body. "I took it for granted he'd always be here." She choked out.

Tien then walked over to Roshi with Chiaotzu in tow. "Master Roshi? Chiaotzu and I have talked it over and we'd like to come if that's alright."

"Don't be silly, of course you can. We'd really appreciate your assistance." Roshi said.

"Oh I can't believe this is happening to me! Suddenly my whole world's dark." Complained Oolong.

"It's happening to all of us, so stuff it!" screamed Launch.

* * *

 **There we go! Sorry it took so long since I've been burned out from mandatory overtime at work and my other obligations. But I got the Saga drafted already so I just need to go over it and edit it. And sorry this chapter seemed so short, been feeling like my writing has been too condensed and packed so I'm trying to see if I can cut it down a bit. If you think this is better or if it's been good so far, let me know!**

 **Anyways, see you in the next chapter!**


	12. CHAPTER 11: TERRIBLE TAMBOURINE

**Hello again! Back to the story of Gine in the King Piccolo Saga proper! Now we know the situation and the plan to deal with the return of the demon king. How will it go?**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 11: TERRIBLE TAMBOURINE

Gine sleepily rolled over. The unfamiliar hardwood-floor she was on with the air mattress was enough to make her open her eyes. Then they shoot wide open in momentary panic and her tail bristled, seeing an empty and strange room she didn't recognize. Where the hell was she?!

But the adrenaline faded as quickly as it came, replaced with grogginess. Gine remembered now that she wasn't sleeping in either the tournament hotel or back at their home on Paozu.

She, and the rest of the gang, went to Master Roshi's island, or Kame House as it was called. The events of yesterday coming back to her as her drowsiness wore away, the tournament finals, Krillin's murder, Kakarot running off, King Piccolo, what they were going to do, and somewhere along the lines ending up here in the blowup bed in the upstairs guest room of Master Roshi's home.

Gine flew off the blankets and rolled out of the mattress, yawning deeply as she stretched. Gine noticed the other roll-out beds where everyone else slept in were empty, so she was the only one in the room. She then looked out the open window towards the sea. A warm breeze laced with a salty-scent filling the room. Judging from the angle of sunlight coming in, it was almost midday.

She must have been out for twelve hours, but she didn't feel too well rested. The last several days of sleeping in strange locations and the exhausting drama of dealing with large amounts of people and the tournament seemed to have drained her quite a bit. And the new situation arising from Krillin's death and King Piccolo certainly didn't help, and her heart aching to know where her son was.

But all things considered, at least she got some amount of sleep. It was far more comfortable than the forced-stasis of attack balls, that was for sure.

She got up and put her dress gi back on, taking in the sight of the sea surrounding the island. Gine had never seen the ocean up close before she followed Kakarot around the world towards the tournament. She was enchanted by how expansive, pleasant, and blue it was. She had seen many types of bodies of water that covered entire planets, but she had never seen something that gave a planet such a beautiful color and life. She was slightly jealous of Kakarot when he got to swim in it on this training lap around the globe, and she hoped she'll get to take a dip in it too sometime.

And the island too was something that Gine thought was quite cute. Her mind turned to her and Gohan's home in the mountains of Paozu, she thought it was truly isolated. But this, a tiny spit of land only big enough for this pink house in the middle of the vast expanse of the ocean, thousands of kilometers from anyone to bother them, was truly nice. Though she would've preferred the soul-cleansing, cool and crisp mountain air than the hot humidity the sea gave off.

With enough of gazing outside and fully dressed, Gine walked downstairs to where she was hearing the gang conversing, she smelled cocoa and coffee in the living room where everyone else was gathered.

"So you're telling me that if you get all seven of these dragon balls together, any wish you make comes true?" Asked Tien to the gang sitting on the couches. It seemed like they had finally got around to explaining those to him and Chiaotzu.

"Yep, but you only get one wish. So obviously we are going to use that wish to bring Krillin back to life." Said Bulma, sipping her cocoa while she worked on the new dragon ball radar at the dining table. She saw Gine as she got downstairs and smiled brightly.

"Hey, Gine! Was just about to go wake you up. You've been out for quite a while, girl!"

"I have, huh?" She said wryly, still rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

"Yep!" She then giggled, "Must be nice to not have to worry about bed-hair, I bet!"

Gine lifted an eyebrow, "What about my hair?"

Bulma looked taken aback, then stumbled to explain. "Oh, you know, since your hair is so shaggy like Kakarot's."

Gine rolled her eyes up to the obsidian mop atop her head. She had no idea why human females like Bulma or Launch could be so obsessed with such trivial things like hair. So she chuckled politely to go along with it. "Yeah, I guess so. One less thing to worry about."

Gine looked at what Bulma was working on at the table, changing the subject and turning somewhat serious. "How's the radar coming along?"

"I'm almost done, actually!" Bulma said, "Just need to make a few more adjustments and we can head on out of here."

"That's good to hear." Gine said. Then she looked at Bulma closely, looking at the traces of dark circles under her eyes. "Have you been up all night?" She asked incredulously.

"Yep, time flies when I'm workin' on something important." She said with pride in her voice, and not taking her eyes off of her work.

Gine smiled genuinely, then added softly "I really appreciate you doing this, Bulma."

Bulma's face lit up. "Hey, don't sweat it! It's all to save the world, right?"

"Right." Gine nodded, then turned towards the rest of the gang sitting in the living room. Chi-chi, Launch, Turtle, and Oolong were starring into a very primitive electronic screen box, or TV as Gohan said they were called. While he, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Puar, and Roshi sat on the couches.

"Anything new?" She asked them as she grabbed herself some cocoa.

They collectively shook their heads in 'no'. Gohan sat by Roshi and said, "Still no word from the news about anything regarding King Piccolo, so things are quiet for the time being."

Roshi nodded reluctantly, "And still no word about Kakarot either, so he probably hasn't returned to the tournament or come looking for us..."

Gine groaned inwardly, not appreciating Roshi's implication of what may have become of her son. She then saw Krillin's body laying on the floor with his hands clasped. She felt a stabbing pain in her heart at being reminded that this poor little boy was dead, and so surreal that they are keeping around as they are literally waiting to bring him back to life.

"Quite a weird thing, huh?" Tien said, as if reading her thoughts. She looked at him.

"Hard to believe that there such things as dragon balls that could grant any wish you want, including bringing people back from the dead!" He said, sounding as disturbed as Gine felt about the whole thing. She could only nod at that.

"On top of knowing that King Piccolo is out there somewhere, on the loose again..." He added, looking out the window towards the sea.

"Well, I know this is going to sound bad..." Yamcha started to say, "...but I think maybe we should use the wish to defeat King Piccolo."

"What?" They all turned to him, stunned.

"I know we have to bring Krillin back to life but from everything I've been hearing, this monster sounds unstoppable." He tried to explain, but shrunk when he meet eyes with Gine.

"J-just thinking out loud, you know. As a last resort in case-" He stammered. The female Saiyan glared at Yamcha for a moment, then up to Roshi. They must have been up a while longer than she was, discussing nothing but Piccolo probably. After her and Roshi's little quarrel yesterday, he most likely talked nothing but doom and gloom while spreading doubt about her abilities.

Gine decided to not press it further though. "We'll beat him, we have to. But yeah, I guess you're right, Yamcha. Only as a last resort."

Yamcha sighed in relief when he realized Gine wasn't going to pummel him, and tried not to remember the disagreement between her and Master Roshi. "Right, exactly. It's good to have backup plans, right?" He said as if to reassure himself.

"Are you sure that's a good idea, Yamcha?" Then asked Puar. "I thought the dragon balls turned to stone for a whole year after a wish has been granted."

"Yeah, it sure is a long time to let Krillin's body hang around." Said Turtle.

"Ew, and what about the smell?" Said Launch.

Yamcha looked down and scratched his head sheepishly, "Oh yeah, didn't think about that." He said defeatedly.

Gine thought the same thing too. She remembered the smell of rotting flesh, and she'll be damned before she is reminded of that again.

"If you ask me, bringing him back to life sounds creepy." Piped Oolong. "So maybe we should just leave him be."

Gine looked over at Oolong, just when she thought they couldn't think of anything more cruel that could be done to Krillin even after death.

Bulma spoke towards them from the table, "Well, I could make a freezer capsule to see if I can preserve him until we find the dragonballs again."

Gine looked at her. Could she really do that? If so, then she had seriously misjudged her and was glad she was full of surprises.

Then Bulma glowered at Oolong. "And one for backstabbers too."

"Hey, I was just sayin'." Oolong said defensively. Strangely, Gine found those words in that phrase oddly catchy to her.

Suddenly, the TV spoke up. _"There were several more killings of world class-martial arts fighters today as-"_

"Hey, come here, listen!" Chi-chi exclaimed as she turned up the volume. Their attention caught, everyone else quickly gathered around to watch.

 _"...A hundred and three more killings were added to the toll as King Chappa and his entire school was found murdered in his temple this morning..."_

The image changed from the news anchor to pictures of the inside of a temple, where the floor looked more like a mass grave of bodies piled on top of each other.

 _"This latest report came in just after a series of murders throughout the outskirts of East and North Cities where other martial artists were known to be living, where in some cases they were massacred alongside the entire population of villages they lived in. Please be advised that the following images are very disturbing..."_

The screen showed pictures of a few desecrated towns she didn't know, but she did know what had happened by just the first glimpses. Blackened craters, crumbled houses and dwellings, and the streets and land littered with bodies. Some human or humanoid, some were animals. Men, women, and children. All dead. Slaughtered.

Gine felt her blood run cold. She had seen this kind of sight aplenty in what should have been another lifetime ago. But now, it all came rushing back to her as if it were yesterday. The scene of countless worlds... Gine didn't notice that Chi-chi was softly whimpering at seeing the horrible images too.

The screen then changed to showing still pictures of faces. That distraction helped Gine shake her head to break herself out of that trip towards those painful memories, and tried to focus on the new images less she break down in sorrow and despair.

The screen now showed faces of martial artists that Gine thought she may have seen during the preliminary rounds at the tournament earlier. Maybe not the extremely fat and snotty looking one though.

 _"Police are still baffled as to the motives of the killer, and why only martial artists are targeted. As to the identity of the killer, the only clue the police have was a piece of paper found with each of the bodies with the word 'devil' encircled in it."_

The aforementioned piece of paper with Piccolo's crest was displayed. Gine felt herself catching her breath, worry filling her mind. She glanced over at Roshi and saw that he looked petrified, his worst fear realized.

 _"This latest evidence seems to point towards the hideous-looking winged monster that attacked and killed superstar Pampet without warning in the middle of a boxing match just last night. As that creature dropped the same piece of paper on this victim as well..."_

She recognized the image of Pampet as it came on the screen, the one fighter Roshi easily knocked out of the ring. The image then changed to footage of a sort of canvas arena where Pampet was facing off against a humanoid creature, like a gargoyle, with sickly-green scaly skin and rudimentary wings. In an instant the creature rammed a fist into the human fighter's face, bashing it in before hundreds of horrified spectators. Gine could tell that Pampet was dead before he hit the floor.

Then, with maniacal glee, the creature pulled out the sheet with the devil symbol on it and let if fall on Pampet's lifeless face. Then the creature flew off as pandemonium broke out among the spectators below.

The image rewound and froze on the blurred image of the creature.

 _"As of now, no one has been able to identify the creature, and the authorities urge citizens to please contact the police immediately if you have any information regarding who or what this monster is."_

Gine starred at the image for a long moment, seething anger rising within her at gazing upon the monster that murdered her son's best friend. _Her_ friend. She didn't notice the mug of cocoa she was holding cracked in her grip.

But still, something was off. Was that supposed to be Piccolo? If so, he didn't look like much. She had been up against warriors that looked far more intimidating than this humanoid looking thing. It must have been a minion of his at least.

 _"When we return, can your clothes drive you insane? You might be surprised. Stay tuned for a special report after these messages."_ Said the announcer, as if the previous story meant nothing. No one spoke or moved for a few seconds.

"Well, it's already begun." Said Launch, breaking the silence and saying what was now obvious.

Oolong looked frightened. "I hear flights to the south seas look cheap this time of year." He tried to joke.

"Guys, the other fightes are in danger! We have to warn them!" Shouted Yamcha.

"We'd have trouble contacting them without the list." Roshi pointed out, his spirit as low as they had seen him. "Besides, many of them use aliases."

Yamcha looked deflated in defeat.

"We can't stay here and do nothing, there's got to be some way we can help! I just feel so useless here!" Tien said through gritted teeth.

"Well, you're right that we can't stay here. We are just sitting ducks." Roshi said as he got up, and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going, Master?" Gohan asked after Roshi. He turned to his former pupil, saddened.

"We have to find another place to hide. If Piccolo is indeed after everyone from the Martial Arts Society, it's only a matter of time before he finds this island. None of you will be safe here for long."

Gine felt sorry for him for a moment, if he thought of losing this island she admittedly found somewhat charming. But only for a moment, and was replaced with anger.

"We can't just keep running and hiding instead of facing Piccolo head-on! If we do, more innocent people will die the longer they keep hunting for us!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Roshi spat at her, "But we still can't stay here where they might find me if they know I'm Jacky Chun."

"HA! I knew it!" Yamcha shouted. Roshi glared at him with surprise and regret when he realized what he just said. Gine almost chuckled at that accidental slip, but not now, there were far more pressing things to worry about.

Roshi continued "We need to find another safe spot so we can stay out of their sights. And come up with a real plan instead of-"

"Annnnnnd, done!" Shouted Bulma, then everyone looked to her.

Bulma clicked the button on top of the new dragon ball radar. It started beeping, and Bulma's face lit up.

"It works! What'd I tell ya?! I'm a genius!" She cheered as she triumphantly held the device above her head.

"Alright!" Everyone cheered with her, even Roshi and Gine.

Bulma looked at the screen again, then beamed. "It shows the nearest dragon ball is about three hundred kilometers due south!"

Gine walked over to her and looked at the screen. Based on how Bulma and Kakarot described how it worked, they were on the center of the dark green neon screen, and a flashing yellow dot at the southern end of the compass, with the distance displayed right next to it.

"Looks like it!" Gine confirmed.

"If we take the capsule jets, we could get there in no time!" Said Bulma.

"Right, then we have no time to lose!" Gine declared, she then turned to the group.

"We should all go gather the dragon balls together. In case if we do run into Piccolo or his minion, we'd have a better chance to take him on together than we do scattered. While I'm sure I can deal with him myself, I would much appreciate your help just in case. If you want to run and hide instead, I'll understand." She said, looking at each and every one present.

Gine found herself amazed that the words she was saying were actually coming from her mouth. Since when did she ever find the courage to take charge of anything?

Everyone looked around at each other, then back at Gine. Yamcha stood up and spoke first.

"We'll come with you, Gine." He said without any doubt in his voice, standing tall even on his bad leg which he seemed to not feel too concerned about.

Puar joined his side, "Me too!"

"Yeah, you're right, Gine. It's better to stand and fight than run like cowards." Tien then added with as much conviction as he could muster, Chiaotzu standing beside him and ready.

"Ya! Let's get that no-good green goblin the kick'in da schnaz he deserves! For Krillin!" Said Launch, pulling out her arsenal of machine guns.

"Yeah! My Kakarot would go! So will I!" shouted Chi-chi, which Gine was unsure to be endeared or repulsed by. But she greatly appreciated her support nonetheless.

"Dooooh, oh, fine!l At least I'll be better off with you than running off to the south seas by myself!" Oolong said, reluctantly.

Gohan smiled proudly at her, and she knew already he would go too. Gine felt touched that he would always support her no matter what, and he in turn had never imagined that Gine could rally the strength of all of her friends, who only days ago were total strangers to her. She was truly as surprise to him as much as she surprised herself.

Gine finally turned to Master Roshi, who hadn't said a thing yet. She looked at him expectantly, then everyone did as they waited for his answer.

Roshi stood there for a long moment, then closed his eyes mournfully. "Master Mutaito never charged into a challenge even if when knew he was the world's strongest... "

Gine's heart sank. She realized that despite their differences in plans of action, and despite her self-assurances about her ability to beat the strongest creature on the planet, she couldn't be 100% sure, and Roshi could be invaluable.

"But..." He went on, reluctantly. "He also knew it was better to stand up for what was right, than to just stand back and do nothing. Even if it meant making the greatest sacrifice."

Gine softened her expression. She remembered the pain she saw in his eyes from telling the tale of his former master, of how he defended his honor and gave his life to save the Earth.

"We could really use your help, Master." She said softly. As much as she thought of her strength as a Saiyan, and being able to call herself the strongest for the first time in her life, she still held him and this Mutaito in high respect as a warrior. Something she had learned greatly from Gohan.

He opened his eyes, and looked at her with acceptance and urgency. "Then what are we waiting for?" He asked, smiling.

* * *

They all moved quickly to pack up into one of the large CapsuleCorp jets that Bulma had on hand.

Once they got everything they needed and Krillin's body safely stowed aboard, Roshi pressed a button on the inside of the house and ran out as fast as he could. Moments later, Kame House disappeared into a puff of smoke, and all that stood in it's place of a grass patch on the island was a capsule that could rest in the palm of Gine's hand. She was still astounded that humans had come up with this kind of technology to compact literally anything into a small space for easy transport. The possibilities of something like this in the Frieza Force would've been far too numerous for her to count, so she set that thought aside.

"Ready?" Bulma asked from the copilot's seat as Gine, Gohan, and Roshi were the last ones to board the jet.

"Ready!" Roshi answered back.

"Alright, punch it!" Bulma shouted to Launch in the pilot's seat, and the blonde-haired fury started the engines.

Gine had a sudden sense of Deja Vu as the jet shuddered, the engines spooling up with a piercing whine. In a moment, they hovered off the ground.

"Hold on to your butts!" Launch shouted as she jammed the controls forward, and suddenly they blasted off at supersonic speed towards the horizon.

Gine's stomach dropped out within her from the acceleration, and she immediately felt as if she was back at the day she had escape Planet Vegeta with Kakarot.

She looked out the window expecting to the see the magenta-red desert landscape of her home world- scratch that, _former_ home world, receding away from her a blinding speed until it became nothing but a dot indiscernible against the backdrop of billions of other stars. Bardock, the love and light of her life, standing there watching them go as she gazed at him for what would be the very last time. While she, frightened and alone with nothing but her baby boy, were sent out into the darkness of space to whatever fate awaited them.

But instead, she saw nothing but the endless expanse of the blue ocean below. The tiny spit of Master Roshi's island shrinking in the distance behind them, rather slowly since supersonic wasn't a speed she found impressive with her ability to fly. But she stared after the island until it was a dot, then lost to the sea. _Deja Vu indeed_ , she thought wearily.

"Missing the island already?" Chi-chi said from her seat across the isle from Gine. She snapped out of her reverie and looked at the young-woman embarrassed.

"Oh, no. Just... remembering things." Gine said, quietly.

"Like what?" Chi-chi asked curiously.

Gine shook her head. "Never mind." She said curtly. Gine didn't feel like talking about that day to her, yet. Gohan glanced at her understandingly.

Chi-chi starred at Gine, seeming to pick up her sullen mood and her not wanting to pursue the subject, so the girl looked away as she decided to change the subject.

"I hope Kakarot is okay, he won't be able to find us if he tries to go to the island." She said, worryingly.

Gine then started to think the same thing. Oh she knew her son could take care of himself, but her maternal instincts never let up on endlessly fretting about his well being. She thought she'd be used to this by now with him running off on his adventures the past four years, but there was still something that kept her worrying.

"I'm sure he'll be fine. He is trying to find the dragon balls as we and Piccolo are, so I'm sure we'll cross paths sooner or later." Gine reasoned, trying to sound assuring. She then mentally kicked herself for her not thinking of telling Kakarot to head back to Paozu if he couldn't find them.

 _No use regretting that_ , she thought. And as she said, they'll see each other again eventually.

When they reached cruising altitude, Bulma unbuckled herself from the copilot seat and stepped down towards where Krillin's body lay on the floor. Gine glanced at him and saw Bulma get to work on some yellow metal container she was assembling near Krillin which she assumed was a freezer capsule. Gine thought that blue-haired girl always had to keep her hands busy.

"We're gonna need a lot more of those freezer capsules!" Launch said as she piloted the jet.

"Aw, come on, that's not very funny, Launch." Said Turtle. Then Roshi coughed to get their attention.

"I'm glad you are all here. Gine, Gohan, and Tien. We'll need all of your strengths." He said gratefully.

Yamcha realized Roshi didn't mention him. "What about me? I can still fight!"

"You still have a broken leg, Yamcha. I know you are determined to help, but your injuries might slow you down or leave yourself vulnerable in a fight." Roshi objected.

Yamcha slumped back in his seat, groaning in frustration. Tien opened his mouth as if to speak in Yamcha's defense but then thought that his rib, though broken, has yet to cause him too much trouble when it came to fight, and could at least stand. So he closed his mouth instead.

Roshi then said, "Plus, if we fail for whatever reason, you may be the last hope of defeating Piccolo. So it's important that you rest up until called upon."

Yamcha nodded reluctantly. Everything Roshi said was true, and much like his idea for defeating Piccolo with the dragon balls, it was always a good idea to have a Plan B.

"We won't fail." Gohan said calmly, "I believe in all of us."

Gine smiled warmly at his encouragement.

"I hope so, the lives of so many innocent people are at stake." Tien said with great seriousness in his voice.

At those words, Chi-Chi's eyes glassed over in tears. Gine glanced over at her.

"I can't imagine what those poor people were feeling in those moments. Those villagers that monster killed..." She said aloud to no one in particular, her voice slightly choking as she recalled the images she saw on the television earlier.

"Everyone massacred. Even frightened women and children... How could anyone be so cruel..." the young princess said, as she started crying softly.

Gine looked at her sadly. She knew all too well how there could exist such ruthless killers. How she accompanied many of them on her planet purging days. Witnessing acts of violence and atrocities that would make what they saw on the TV seem like child's play.

She was also uncomfortably reminded that Chi-chi herself came from a village. So Gine could only imagine the terror the young woman must be feeling...

Almost as if arriving on the same thought, Chi-Chi's face suddenly paled.

"DADDY!" The girl screamed.

Everyone jumped and turned to her in alarm.

"What?! What's wrong Chi-chi?!" Roshi asked, startled.

"I'm on that list too! What if whoever is killing those fighters tries to find me?!" Chi-chi yelled.

"They won't find you here with us, your safe!" Bulma tried to reassure her.

"No, NO! Don't you remember the news? Whoever is killing those martial artists is also killing the villages too wherever they find them!" Chi-chi said, half panicking.

Gine realized it first. Then it sunk in for everyone.

Chi-chi was from a village like those other fighters. If King Piccolo or his minions try to look for her at Fire Mountain, Ox-king, and their entire kingdom would be in danger.

"We have to get to my father!" Chi-chi pleaded, her hands in desperate prayer.

Gohan nodded in alarm for his old friend. "You're right! if whoever is doing this is tracking where they live, they'll kill him for sure!"

Roshi wasted no time. "Launch, head for Fire Mounatain!"

"Way ahead of ya, tuts!" Launch said as she changed their course. The jet banked hard right and accelerated even faster towards the north.

The ocean seemed to zoom right past them a lot faster, and before long they could see the long line of approaching land on the horizon. But Gine wished it could approach faster as this lumbering human-built transport hauled them across the sky.

Chi-chi started openly crying loudly. Gine got up and sat next to her, trying to comfort the poor girl by letting her be hugged tightly.

"Please! We have to hurry!" The young princess begged while she buried her face into Gine's dress gi. "I don't know what I'll do if I loose him too!" She sobbed, losing herself to despair at the idea of loosing her father.

It was then that Gine remembered that Chi-chi only had her father to look after her, and her mother was long dead. She couldn't comprehend the idea of losing her parents at the point Chi-chi was in her life since Gine didn't know her own parents herself, so all Gine could do was hug Chi-chi back and pat her soothingly.

"Don't worry, Chi-chi. We'll get to him soon." Gine said, trying to calm Chi-chi down.

The ocean gave way to grassy land below, then desert. And after a few long minutes, the familiar shape of Fire Mountain appeared on the horizon.

"THERE!" Gine shouted towards Launch as she pointed towards the mountain kingdom below.

"Got it!" Launch confirmed as they descended rapidly.

A few moments later, they circled over the main village where the Ox-king's castle was. As Gine and the others looked down below, crowds of people began to pour out of their homes to see what the buzzing jet was doing above them.

"Look! There he is!" Bulma said from her window.

Everyone saw where she was referencing and saw a behemoth of man make his way out of the castle and into the village square.

"He's alright!" Gine said happily. Chi-chi risked a look, and cried out again but in sweet relief this time.

Launch brought the jet to a slow decent into the wide open village square. A large crowd gathered to see the commotion but kept their distance to allow the large jet to land.

No sooner after they touched down, the door opened and Chi-chi launched herself out towards her father.

"Chi-chi?"

Ox-king himself was flabbergasted as to what was going on. But he was ecstatic to see his daughter again, though.

"Daddy!" She yelled as she ran into Ox-king for a hug, tears of joy flowing from her eyes.

"It's so good to see you, sweetheart!" He said happily as he embraced Chi-chi with his tree-trunk thick arms. He then looked up from his daughter to see everyone else piling out of the jet, and his face lit up at seeing their familiar faces.

"Master Roshi!" He said waving to them, then he recognized Gine. "Gine!" Then moving on, "Bulma,! Oolo-" He stopped, when he saw a face he had not seen for a VERY long time step out from behind Oolong.

"Gohan? Is that you?!" Ox-king exclaimed in amazement.

"The one and only, my old friend!" Gohan beamed at him.

"This is so unexpected! How are you doing, old buddy?!" Ox-king boomed at his former training buddy.

"Had less worrisome days, I'm afraid." Gohan said as they all reached him from the jet, Gine standing behind all of them alongside Yamcha as his leg slowed him down. Ox-king was still holding Chi-chi and that was when he noticed she was crying.

"Is something wrong?" Ox-king said worryingly as he glanced down at Chi-chi, who still held him tightly. Gine was saddened when she remembered that she and Gohan hadn't seen him in a long time for either of them, and that such a reunion should have been more festive. But they had to cut greetings short.

Chi-chi looked up from where she hugged her father into his eyes. "Oh, Daddy. I had to find you here. I thought the worst may have happened already!" She said, crying again.

"What? What are talking about?" Ox-king said.

Roshi stepped forward. "Ox-king, I wish we could have come at a better time to catch up on old times, but I'm afraid you and everyone present may be in grave danger."

The king of Fire Mountain looked at his former master, concerned and confused. "Huh? In danger?! From what?!"

Roshi looked his former student in the eye. "King Piccolo has returned."

Ox-king gasped in horror, his face turning white.

"Did-did you just say...King Piccolo?!" He stammered, sounding just as horrified as his former master and partner were at that reavilation.

Roshi nodded gravely. "I'm afraid so. We don't know how he broke loose from his prison, but he is free again. And he, or minions of his, are out roaming the land killing anyone part of the Martial arts Society."

"Uh. Wha- why?" Ox-king asked. But he was afraid he already knew the answer.

"To rid of anyone who can stand against him." Said the Turtle Hermit, "Myself and most of us here are on that list." Then he gestured at Chi-chi.

"She is on there too, for participating in the World Martial arts Tournament."

Ox-king starred at his old master agape and held Chi-chi protectively.

"Oh no! What should we do?!"

Then, at those words, Gine's sensitive ears picked up a distant flapping sound. The hairs on the back of her neck straightened, and she wheeled around.

"What is it, Gine?" Yamcha asked, noticing her sudden alertness.

The flapping sound grew closer, then Gine looked up to the sky.

"There!" She pointed. The gang, distracted by Gine's call, broke free from talking to Ox-king and curiously looked up to where she was pointing.

There were screams of horror among some of the villagers who looked up, as a large winged creature appeared from the air. It came swooping down over the square like a condor circling it's prey.

Then it landed on it's feet in front of the gathering in front of Ox-King and the gang. Turtle, who finally got out of the jet and tried to make his way over to them, stopped short of the creature, shuddering in fright.

Gine, and every other fighter in the gang behind her got into defensive stances at the intrusion of this unknown visitor. She and Yamcha were closest to it, and both felt unsettled by the sight of the grotesque humanoid caricature that stood before them. Then they immediately recognized the creature. The scaly body and rudimentary wings. The gargoyle from the news report.

It stared them down, then it's mask of a face lit up in recognition, and chuckled.

"Well, looky here. Guess I found the jackpot! Four fighters in one place! Who would've thought!" The creature said with it's scratchy voice.

"Yamcha! Scrawny and lame. Tien, Shen's prized pupil. Chiaotzu, the doll boy." The creature sounded off as he spotted each of the fighters. They in turn were horrified that this thing knew who they were, and more by what they knew this thing wanted.

Oolong and Puar cowered behind Gine, both sweating bullets. "Hope I don't owe him any money too!" Oolong said, not sure if he was half serious or half joking.

Then the creature's gaze fell on Chi-chi, "And of course why I'm here...Chi-chi. The pint-sized princess."

Chi-chi screamed in horror, clutching the Ox-king for dear life.

"No, it can't be... it's the monster, isn't it?!" Bulma uttered in terror.

Yamcha squared off into stance, ignoring the pain in his leg. "You must be King Piccolo's yes man, right?" He shot at the creature.

"Yes. NO!" It said, catching itself as if embarrassed. "I mean, well, you don't, er...shut up!"

Behind Gine, Tien screamed, "Monster! You're the one who killed Krillin, aren't you?!"

"If that was the little bald one's name, then yes." The creature said, remorselessly.

"Who are you?!" Yamcha demanded.

"Me?" The creature asked mockingly. "I'm Tambourine." Then smiled. "And you are all my next victims."

The villagers around them backed away in complete fear. Gine, and the other fighters in front of Ox-king stood where they were and locked eyes with Tambourine. He seemed more focused on the four fighters he was after than her.

"You murdered Krillin." Gine growled at Tambourine, taking in the horrible face of this 'thing' that took the life of the sweet little boy, and the lives of so many innocent people. The images from the reports of the massacres that this monster had caused, innocent women and children slaughtered, played in her head too. A burning white-hot anger began to grow within her.

Tambourine looked at her. "That I did. But who's asking?"

Gine glared daggers at him. "Me, the one who is going to avenge my son's best friend."

Tambourine threw back his head and laughed hard in a horrible hyena sound.

"You? A human woman, fight me?! Ha! Don't make me laugh." He said as he extended his clawed hands to attack.

Gine was taken aback momentarily by why this monster thought her being a female was relevant, but let it go as she got into stance. "Well you're right about me being a woman, but I'm no human."

Tambourine gave a confused look. "Huh?"

Gine didn't give him any more time to react as she launched herself at Tambourine in the blink of an eye. Her fist plowed straight into the reptilian flesh of where his solar plexus ought to be, his eyes bulged from their sockets in shock and pain as he was sent flying back from the hit. Gine then phased behind him and with a wet crunch she kicked him in the back, up into the air. Tambourine started screaming as Gine phased in front of him and punched him again, then catching up to him again from where he was sent flying off to from one attack to the next, kicking him around like a rag doll.

Finally, she spiked him over the head and sent him plummeting to the earth below. He crashed into the ground in a cloud of dust and debris, making a solid crater.

Tambourine lay in the crater on his back, stunned and broken from what just happened. In the span of a few seconds both his wings were snapped like twigs, each limb bent in directions they weren't supposed to be, and if he had a spine it was surely broken.

He spat up purple blood, and whimpered from the pain as he tried to move. The rest of the gang looked on in astonishment from where they stood, having no idea what just happened since Gine moved so fast.

Gine herself hovered a few hundred meters above, glowered down at Tambourine and looking at how the monster was in such pain from her attacks. She had no pity for him after everything he has done and for what he did to Krillin. And in some primitive corner of her mind, she was hoping that he was truly suffering from what she inflicted on him.

She then decided to finish it there, and rocketed towards him in a downward kick. Tambourine saw her coming at him, but he cowered where he lay.

"This is for Krillin!" She yelled.

Tambourine screamed in terror as his end came down on his head. With a wet sound mixed with crashing rubble, Gine's foot crushed Tambourine's skull into a bloody mess of scales and brains while the crater caved in deeper from the impact.

When the dust cleared, Gine jumped out of the crater and scraped off what was left of Tambourine from her boot.

Gine looked up from inspecting her foot to see the gang and the villagers starring at her with a mix of amazement and horror, she began to worry if she frightened them.

All at once, everyone present erupted into a chorus of cheers. The sudden applause taking Gine completely off guard.

"That was so cool!" Yamcha exclaimed as he applauded.

"That was the most amazing display of strength I've ever seen!" Tien said, unable to hide the sense of awe he had.

"Yeah! That was awesome!" Launch and the others said. Chi-chi ran to her and clang to her like a magnet to metal.

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you!" The young girl said gratefully, tears of joy pouring into Gine's dress gi.

The villagers came around Gine and the gang, applauding her. "You saved our kingdom!" Many of then shouted in joy.

Gine never felt so uncomfortable in her life, being the center of such enormous praise from an entire town of people she didn't know. She felt a twinge of anxiety flare up in her, like she just wanted to disappear from right then and there.

Gohan stepped before her and laid a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?" He asked.

Gine looked him in the eye. Of course she was alright, she barely exerted herself through this "battle" and Tambourine never landed a hand on her. Even if he did she knew he was too weak to put up a fight against her anyway. But then she knew what he was asking.

It was the first time in over a decade, she realized, that she had fought to kill. Something she abhorred with all her soul.

But somehow, deep within her, she felt content. Proud even. That she had brought a murderous creature that had caused so much pain the death he deserved.

Gine had no idea why she was feeling this way. She hated killing, and being a warrior. But, somehow, doing this felt so right. Like, it was a kind of calling she felt truly suited for. Was she? Was this what Gohan was so concerned that she was actually taking some amount of joy in bringing evil-doers to justice like in their little argument a few days prior? And not to kill?

 _A Saiyan fighting to protect instead of conquer...but not kill...,_ now that was a truly interesting thought in her mind.

"Yeah, I'm okay." Gine said.

Gohan nodded, smiling as if understanding. Gine then felt a overwhelming sense of gratefulness to Gohan. Oh how'd she be lost in so many ways without his presence...

Chi-chi finally let go and looked up at her with misty eyes. "Thank you for saving my father, and our kingdom." She choked out.

Gine smiled at her. THAT, she can truly be proud of without any doubts. "Your welcome, Chi-chi." She said politely.

"That was the coolest thing I've seen in a long time, Gine!" Bulma and the others said along the lines of that as they gathered around her while she could only sheepishly accept their complements.

"I hate to break up this little victory dance!" Roshi interrupted as the cheers died down and everyone turned to him. "But King Piccolo is still out there somewhere, and who knows if that was his only underling."

Fear and uncertainty took back over among the villagers. Oh yeah, there was that detail Gine almost forgot. Ox-king's fear of the monster returned as well.

"Oh no, your right!" Puar said worryingly. "What if more monsters come after us?"

"And Piccolo is still out looking for the dragon balls too!" Added Tien.

"What?! OH NO!" Ox-King exclaimed. "If he gets them..." He said, unable to finish, already knowing how finished everything and everyone would be.

"Then we better get back on track. Let's get to the dragon balls before he does, and we can end his reign once and for all." Gine said to them all.

"Right!" They all agreed.

"That's your plan?" Ox-king asked.

"Pretty much. And once we stop him from using those, I'll face him myself." Gine explained.

Ox-king stared at her in even more astonishment. "YOU ARE?!" He gasped. This woman, was going to go toe-to-toe with the devil himself? To him, she was either crazy or the bravest person he ever met. But, after seeing her fight...

"She is." Roshi stated plainly, garnering a look of surprise from Gine.

"She is by far the strongest person on the planet, that I know for sure now. And if the little fight with that Tambourine fellow was anything to go by, we might have a solid chance afterall." He said, a real smile creeping onto his face.

Gine smiled too, but half at Roshi and half at herself. Pleased that she was able to prove to him that she wasn't at all useless.

Ox-king's face turned into on of conviction. "You can do it. I know you can too."

Gine's smile grew even wider. "Thanks."

Ox-King turn to Roshi, "So, what should we do?"

Roshi turned to his other former student, "Have your people seek shelter or go into hiding. It's still not safe for you here."

"Right!" Said Ox-king, then the large hulk of a man cupped his hands to address the rest of the town.

"EVERYONE! LISTEN TO ME! OUR KINGDOM IS IN GRAVE DANGER! I REPEAT: OUR KINGDOM IS IN GRAVE DANGER! KING PICCOLO HAS RETURNED!"

The townsfolk looked at each other concern, and some of the older ones seemed especially worried. They must've at least heard of Piccolo before.

"IT IS NOT SAFE HERE! GATHER ONLY WHAT YOU NEED TO SURVIVE AND TAKE YOUR FAMILIES INTO THE FORESTS UNTIL IT IS SAFE!"

Everything went into motion as the villagers of Fire Mountain fled home semi-panicked, but at least now knew what to do.

"What about you, Daddy?" Chi-chi asked her father.

He looked down at his daughter with a sad smile. "I need to stay, sweetie. I can't just leave our people on their own."

"Oh..." Chi-chi teared up again, and went to hug her father as tightly as she could. Gine couldn't fathom how the girl wasn't so dangerously dehydrated from all of her crying, and she felt a great respect for Ox-King. Never willing to abandon his charge.

Ox-king patted Chi-Chi's back lovingly as she cried into his massive chest. "There, there, sweetie. Don't worry about me, okay? I'll be alright."

"Are you sure?" The girl asked as her sobs calmed down.

"Absolutely. I'm the Ox-king! And a student of the Turtle School. I'll be fine." He said reassuringly, looking up at Roshi and Gohan in a knowing smile. They in turned smiled back.

"That sure is true. If Ox-king could survive all that Roshi put both of us through. We can handle about anything!" Gohan joked warmly.

Ox-king chuckled at that. "Ah yes, those were the times. But yeah, don't worry. We'll catch up on old times later, my friend." Then he looked down at his daughter. "Okay?" He softly asked.

Chi-chi nodded reluctantly, then pulled away from Ox-King's embrace.

"I love you, daddy." She said to him.

"I love you too, sweetie." Ox-king said back. "Now go, all of you. And good luck against King Piccolo!"

"Thank you!" They all shout back as they pile into the CapsuleCorp jet again. Chi-chi took one last look back before jumping in behind Gine, after picking up Turtle. Moments later, Launch was at the controls and had them off the ground before the door even shut.

Then the jet screamed away, blasting off towards the south as Fire Mountain shrank in the distance behind them.

Back at cruising altitude, Gine sat in the copilot seat next to Launch. Bulma handed her the dragon radar, so she could continue working on the capsule for Krillin behind her.

Then Gine looked behind her and around the interior of the jet.

"If any of you want out and think if anyone else you care is in danger, now is the time." She said to them. At least giving them one more chance to seek refuge, not wanting what almost happened to Chi-Chi's kingdom happen to their families.

Bulma spoke first. "Well that's fine Gine, but if we don't find the dragon Balls before King Piccolo does, then no one will be safe."

"She's right. I say we all stick together." Tien offered.

"Yeah!" Gohan, Roshi, Tien, Chiaotzu, Yamcha, Puar, Oolong, Bulma, Chi-chi, and Launch all agreed unanimously.

"I might not be too much useful besides swimming, but I go where you all go." Turtle said to Gine.

"Alright, then." Gine said, her heart warming at how dedicated they were. She then press the button on the radar.

Immediately, a dot flashed at the southern end of the compass. The one they were after earlier.

"Got one! About two hundred kilometers away due south." She said, pointing out through the plexiglass canopy.

"Changing course!" Launch said, then yanked the controls in the direct Gine pointed.

The clouds swirled and rushed past them at blinding speed as they moved as fast the jet was designed for.

While they flew, Bulma worked on a capsule to preserve Krillin's body. When she was done, she'll be able to shrink him down like her other capsules.

"Don't mix him up with your vitamins!" Yamcha joked. Nobody cared to laugh at that.

"So we'll be fighting King Piccolo and his minions for control of the dragon balls, am I right?" Tien asked aloud.

"Yes, and his possession of the four-star ball puts him in the lead." Said Roshi.

"That would be a problem, would have to face him to get Kakarot's ball back." Tien said.

"What we need is a plan to knock Piccolo off his guard long enough to get the back." Gohan said.

"Right! I'd love to knock him off his guard." Said Tien. Agreed too by Yamcha.

"Once I find that ugly bastard, I'll introduce him to my lead army!" Said Launch, pulling out a submachine gun for effect.

"Careful, all of you." Said Roshi. "I understand how you all feel, but King Piccolo is a powerful adversary. Maverick tactics won't win this fight. We must work together..."

While everyone conversed behind her, Gine just sat there and took in the view of the world flying by before her while she contemplated quietly.

"Kakarot..." She whispered quietly to herself. Despite the great companionship she had found amongst the gang to save the world of all things, she sorely wished her son was right there with her at that very moment.

She knew he could take care of himself. He'd be fine. Won't he?...

The ambiguity of that question left her heart feeling aching, clutching it unconsciously.

As much she knew that her son would find his way back to them, she felt a familiar sense of dread she hadn't felt since that day she fled Planet Vegeta long ago. And started regretting that she didn't chase after him yesterday. The one true thing she had left in the cosmos...

She'll find him. Like the dragon balls, they'll comb the whole Earth if they have too.

* * *

 **There we go! The race to collect the dragon balls and defeat King Piccolo is on.**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


	13. CHAPTER 12: CLOSING IN

**Hello again! Time for the next installment of Gine gathering the dragonballs and taking on King Piccolo! Sorry it took so long, lots of things happening in the real world to get caught up in. Still am, but I'm still here to continue.**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 12: CLOSING IN

"Are you sure you won't change your mind?" Roshi asked, ignoring the dozens of machine guns pointed at him.

The tiger captain, of the pirate land-ship they were all on, laughed as he tossed the seven-star dragonball and caught it repeatedly. Gine wondered, from where she stood in the circle of the gang while surrounded by the crew of the ship that held them hostage, how did they get themselves in this?

"What do ya think? I was the first to find this thing. It's mine!"

"You don't need that ball do you?" Asked Tien.

"It's simply a shiny trinket. Pleasing to the eye. But I can tell from your reaction it holds great value, at least to yee." The captain said with a sly grin.

"What is it you want? Money?" Asked Yamcha.

"Arr." He confirmed. "How about a million zeni?"

"A million?!" The gang exclaimed all at once.

"You can't be serious." Gohan said.

"You heard me, old man. Take it or leave it!" The captain demanded.

"Hmmmm. You drive a hard bargin." Said Roshi, woefully. He turned around and looked into his wallet.

Gine shook her head. Was he actually going to give this guy what he wanted?

"I don'thave time for this." Gine said.

In a blur, she phased out of the circle and snatched the dragonball in mid-toss before the captain caught it. The captain didn't see anything, but then realized he was grabbing air instead of still juggling the orb.

"Wha-WHAT?! Where'd it go?!" The captain said, baffled. He looked around where sat, thinking he dropped it.

He looked back at the gang, then gasped. Gine was waving the ball in her hand while she was still surrounded by his crew.

"H-h-how?! How did you do that?!" He asked, dumbfounded.

"Can we go now?" Gine asked the gang, clearly irritated with this little pirate ship escapade that was Roshi's idea.

Roshi shrugged. "Well that's one way to do. At least we got what we came for."

The captain snarled as his senses came back. "HEY! THAT WAS MINE!"

The ship suddenly stopped in it's tracks as the crew members locked and loaded their weapons.

"Boys, kill them and get my ball back!" He ordered.

Gohan sighed at Gine, "Why did you have to aggravate him?"

"Why are WE wasting time with him?" She shot back.

"I didn't want this to get out of hand." Said Roshi as he rolled up his sleeves. "But you leave us with no choice, we need this ball."

The Captain heard enough. "FIRE!"

"Chiaotzu!" Yelled Tien before a cacophony of automatic gunfire erupted.

After a few seconds, the gang was engulfed in a cloud of smoke and the crew ran out of ammo. The captain smirked, satisified he gunned down these people who dared steal from him.

The smoke cleared, and the crew looked on in shock as they saw the gang still standing and completely untouched. The bullets they fired at them floated around while Chiaotzu had a finger raised. He lowered it and the thousands of spent rounds clattered onto the deck.

Then the crewmembers all collapsed to the deck too, moaning in pain or rendered completely unconscious. After the last one hit the floor, the forward mast cracked and fell over the side of the ship in a crash of snapping wood.

Gine, Gohan, Tien, and Roshi stood in front of the captain with whatever weapons they snatched in the instant it took to incapacitate the entire crew. The captain looked terrified and uncomprehending of what just happened. He failed to notice that his own gun had been snatched too. And for good measure, Launch pulled out her own machine gun and pointed it at the now unarmed captain. Gine had no idea where the blonde-haired fury procured her weapons from, even after being searched by the crew earlier.

Roshi walked up to the stunned captain, wallet in hand.

"If it's any consolation, here's some beer coupons and a lottery ticket. And sorry about your ship." Roshi snickered as he held out his meager offerings.

The captain didn't look away from Gine and the gang for a few moments, still traumatized by what just impossibly happened. But whether out of shock or compliance, he took the coupons with a shaky hand.

"S-sure. No problem." He mumbled feebly.

The gang then flew off from where they stood. Gine holding onto Gohan and Launch while Tien held Roshi and Chiaotzu.

The captain was still beyond dazed to realize the insult to injury that these guys did with how they could have just flown off whenever they wanted to.

He resolved to never keep those orange balls ever again...

* * *

"Next time let's just take it." Gine said impatiently as she took her seat and waved the found ball to the other half of the gang, indicating that they are ready to move. Bulma, Yamcha, Puar, Turtle, Chi-chi and Oolong stayed behind in the forest with the Capsule Corp jet until Gine and the gang returned with the dragon ball.

A few moments later, Bulma and Launch started the engines and the jet took off. Rocketing over the forest and towards the next signal on the other side of the mountains.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with a diplomatic approach if someone else has those balls." Roshi countered.

"It still costed us valuable time." Gine said, getting irritated.

"Hey now. Regardless if it took us awhile, we still accomplished half our mission!" Said Gohan.

"Half?" Said Tien.

"Yeah. Even without just ONE of the balls, King Piccolo still won't be able to call upon the eternal dragon, let alone missing two." He explained.

Gine sighed. "You're right. That part is true. Sorry." She said.

Gohan looked at her concerned, but didn't press to ask what made her so irate.

Gine held the couple of dragonballs they found so far. The other, the two-star ball, was found without much trouble in the ice of the Antarctic only a few hours earlier. They looked so much like the little four star orb Gohan always kept, but she never could've imagined they held so much power and significance.

And the thought of the ball they used to have, made her heart ache. Wondering how her son was doing right at that very moment, out there somewhere...

"Next one shouldn't be too far, probably that town down there!" Launch pointed straight ahead, Gine looked.

Down below was a small, unassuming-looking settlement. From up high they couldn't tell if there was anybody out and about.

"Look's quiet down there." Said Bulma, looking out the window.

"Well, if that's the case then the coast should be clear." Said Launch, as she circled the jet down towards the main dirt street of the town.

After they landed, Gine, Gohan, Roshi, Tien, and Chiaotzu got out while the rest stayed behind to guard the jet and their dragon balls so far.

As they walked down the main street, they didn't hear a single sound save for the whistling of the wind and the battering of loose doors and window sills. The buildings were a lot more dilapidated up close than in the air.

"More than quiet. This place looks deserted." Gine said as they kept going. Becoming more and more unsettled by the lack of people.

"It's a ghost town out here." Tien said as he surveyed his surroundings. He too was getting more disturbed.

"Hey, what about over there?" Chiaotzu pointed.

Their gaze fell on a small wooden house that looked as if it had seen better days. But as Gine looked closely, there was smoke coming from the chimney, and she could even see lights and movement.

"Guess this place isn't totally uninhabited." Roshi said, then looked down at the radar. "According to radar, the ball should be in that house."

"I'll get it, Master." Offered Tien as he walked up to the dwelling. They all smiled at how he was already addressing Roshi as his new master.

Tien reached the front door and knocked. After a few moments, it cracked open just enough for the face of a frail young woman to answer.

"Can I help you?" She asked timidly, somewhat warry at looking over the imposing form of Tien and the group of strangers behind him. She barely looked half of Gine's age.

"Uh, yes, I'm sorry to bother you, Miss." Tien said. "But I'm looking for-"

Tien suddenly gasped.

Looking into the main dining room of the house, there was a man carving potatoes. His weathered clothes covered in patches over patches, matching the bare wooded interior of the home. His melancholic demeanor and disheveled impression, combined with the squalid state of this man's home told as if fate had forsaken him.

He was starring Tien in eye, as if amazed. Then his gazed hardened.

"So, it's you. What have you come for?" He asked with no warmth in his voice.

The woman turned to him. "You know this man?" She asked incredulously, unintentionally throwing the front door wide open for all of them to see inside.

"Good, looks like they know each other." Commented Roshi.

"Probrably not in a good way, Master." Added Gohan.

Gine sighed, this was already gonna make getting the ball that much more difficult.

The poor man struggled to stand and limped towards Tien with a cane. Tien stared at the floor for a long time, then back at the man.

"Small world." Tien said. The poor woman looked at Tien one more time, then disappeared behind a hallway. Gine thought she heard the sound of a baby cooing from there.

"Yes it is, as bad luck would have it." The man said coldly. "I tried to forget your face, but I'm reminded every time I move."

Tien couldn't look the man in the eye, and stared at the man's bad leg as if ashamed. The man seemed to have seen what he was looking at.

"I had to be rushed to the hospital after what you did to me that day. I don't remember much, except for the pain from thirteen broken bones. And it took me two years to get back to this house. And to my expectant wife too..." He said, his voice trailing off and wincing, not just from physical pain.

Gine felt a terrible sympathy for the poor fellow. She could tell that his leg had never fully healed, nor the pain she could see in his eyes. And the implication of his 'expectant' wife, which she found odd. On Vegeta, Saiyan fathers couldn't care less if they saw their offspring born or not, but she guessed human fathers felt otherwise. She could definitely see the pain in him though.

Tien looked up from the ground and faced the man. Gine almost forgot that Tien had, not too long ago, been capable of such things.

"I'm sorry about your injuries." He said softly.

"Are you now?" The man said, almost as if he was insulted. "Sorry that you didn't finish me off, or that you didn't break me further?!"

"I was a different person back then." Tien tried to explain.

"So was I. I could walk without using a cane back then." He spat back. "And I could actually work for a living too! Do you have any idea what it's like to not being able to provide for your family?! That all you could do was just sit around like you are just some useless bum?! And force your wife and son to live in squalor?!" He shouted in fury, almost on the brink of crying.

Tien tried to move on with the matter at hand, not wanting to be facing a past that has come back to haunt him in way he couldn't fathom.

"The reason I've come here is for your dragonball. I would like to use it."

"Dragonball? What the hell is that?" He asked angrily.

"It's a small orange orb with a star on it. We know that there is one here in this house somewhere. Will you be willing to give it to us?" Tien asked, but knew him asking would be hopeless.

"No. Now go."

"Unacceptable!" Tien answered back. He looked unsure of what to do.

Gine shook her head. _Next time, let's just take it._ Her own words echoed in her mind. She just said them not even an hour ago, and was seriously wondering how could she have said that out loud willingly. Could she really bring herself to attack this crippled man and ransack his home in front of his family? Would they really resort to that?!

"I don't know what you speak of. But it doesn't matter, I think you are lying." That caught Tien by surprise. "Even if it did exist, help is the last thing I would ever give you."

Tien didn't know what else to say, the tension in the air was too palpable.

"Oh, what a beautiful day." Roshi said, destroying the atmosphere.

Gine looked at him, offended by his disregard for the situation unfolding before them.

Gine stood up suddenly, and alert.

"What is it?" Gohan asked.

The radio they brought along crackled as Launch's voice came through it.

 ** _"Uh, hey guys? We got company incoming towards you!"_** She said urgently.

"What? Company?" Roshi asked in confusion.

Then, they all heard the sounds of vehicles approaching. Moments later, dust clouds on the road formed into green jeeps and trucks that was speeding directly towards them.

"Did we call for backup or something?" Gohan asked, unconcerned for some reason. Gine didn't get into stance, but stood ready.

The jeeps and trucks stopped just in front of the house, then a platoon of uniformed human soldiers poured out to surround the house. Gine guessed they must have been military forces.

"Not good." Chiaotzu said. Gine turned back towards the door looking into the house, Tien and the man unaware of what was going on outside.

"I must have it." Tien demanded.

"You sound like a broken record." The man said, growing more annoyed.

Tien took a step forward. Alarmed, the man quickly grabbed a shotgun from the wall.

"Get back!" He threatened.

Tien stopped, "Please, I'm not here to hurt you."

Just as he said that, the platoon of soldiers ran up the door and into the house. Gine panicked, ready to charge in.

"Wait!" Roshi instructed, placing a hand on her shoulder. Gine looked at him as if he were insane.

The armed troopes surrounded Tien with their guns pointed at him.

The commanding officer stepped forward. "Tien Shinhan, you are under arrest for murder."

"What?!" Tien shouted in disbelief.

"Unlike the police, it didn't take long to identify the killer, Tien Shinhan." The man spat his name in contempt. "Who else is as strong and delights in maiming martial artists?"

"No! That's a lie!" Tien tried to defend himself. But the man didn't flinch.

"You would kill if it suited your needs. I'm living proof."

Tien shook his head. "You've got it wrong, I'm not the one doing this! The true killer is King Picco-"

"SILENCE!" The commander cut Tien off. "You can tell your story at the station. Take him!"

The two nearest officers grabbed Tien, but he effortlessly threw them to the ground. The other men locked their sights on him and readied to gun him down on the spot. Tien got into stance readying to-

"Stop it!" Yelled Roshi as he stepped forward.

 _About time!_ Gine thought, almost about to phase in a moment before.

The soldiers turned around and looked at him, perplexed. Then the commander stepped closer to Roshi, looking him over and then jumping in surprise.

"Uh, you must be..." He said, recognizing him.

"Don't worry sarge, I got him." Said one officer pointing a gun at Roshi.

The commanding officer wheeled on him. "No you idiot, don't you know who this is?! It's the Turtle Hermit, Master Roshi!"

The lesser officer caught on. "As in the master in martial arts?!" He looked as if he had been caught.

All the other officers gazed at him in wonderment, even the poor crippled man recognized him too.

"Master Roshi, what are you doing here in the company of this criminal?!" The commanding officer asked.

"Sergeant, Tien Shinhan is no murderer. He's a friend of mine, and of all of us here." He gestured with his open arms towards Gohan, Gine, and Chiaotzu for the benefit of the Sergeant.

He then continued, "We are on important business. He's not the killer you are looking for."

"Yeah, but, uh..." The Sergeant struggled for words.

"Let it go, Sarge. Tien is not guilty. I can assure you of that." Roshi said calmly.

The Sarge stood there for moment thinking it over, unsure how to take in the strange appearance of the Great Turtle Hermit. But he relented.

"Stand down." He ordered his men, and they all lowered their weapons.

Tien relaxed, and walked up to the man.

"The dragonball?" Tien asked.

The man didn't say anything, just barely holding himself together from screaming in rage and despair. But he suddenly deflated, as if accepting a death sentence.

"Why bother asking? Just tear my home apart. That is your style, is it, Tien?" The man spat with such vitriol. "Go ahead, do it. You've broken me in body, now is your chance to break me in soul!"

Tien looked down in shame. None of the soldiers would try to stop him and they already backed away in fear, not even trying to stop any notion of defending this man against the most feared student of Crane if he decided to turn his house upside down. They knew full well what Tien had done and could do, and Gine could only imagine the things Tien had done to other people if his victims were like this. And in that moment, she felt a very uncomfortable sense of reflection as she thought of how sorry she felt for all she had done in her life too.

Could anyone really be this remorseful? Such an idea would be laughed at on Vegeta, but being a Saiyan who actually had a sense of empathy was a whole different story...

"What are you waiting for?! JUST GET IT OVER WITH!" The man screamed, tears in his eyes. He looked beyond infuriated and humiliated that this man who crippled him would tear his life apart again in his own home, and not even the army would help him. Like fate had not only betrayed him, but was laughing at him.

Gine was about to step forward, ready to come to Tien's defense and figure out how to dispel any notion of such a cruel act to this poor fellow. She figured they should just tell them all that King Piccolo was on the loose. That alone should be reason to get them to surrender the ball. They had to do something, and time was running out. The lives of Krillin, their friends, Kakarot, the whole planet-

Tien suddenly fell on all fours before him.

"I beg you, we desperately need that ball!"

The man was taken aback by Tien droping to his hands and knees before him.

"I'm sorry for all the pain and suffering I've done to you... If you want revenge, you can break both my arms or legs. You can even break my rib again! Whatever you want, but please give us that dragonball!" Tien pleaded. He lowered his head and stayed in a humble bow, closing his eyes tightly and waiting for the man to strike him.

No one moved or said anything, staring at Tien offering himself to be inflicted with pain. Gine stood there as well, now taking in the spectacle of how this once ruthless killer was begging one of his victims to serve justice. She wondered what world was she living in right now.

The man looked at Tien in shock, then contemplative, then remorseful himself.

"I've dreamed of taking revenge on you for so long..." He said.

Then he sighed, leaning against the wall while the gun went slack in his hand.

"I forgive you." He says softly.

Tien looked up at him in amazement. Everyone was as well.

Gine was far too overcome with emotion to take in such an amazing thing. Just stood there trying hard not to cry.

Roshi and Gohan sighed in relief, both smiling.

For the first time since they arrived, the man smiled. "You can have the dragonball, take it before my little boy wakes up." He nodded to his wife in the hallway, who had streaks of tears on her face. She must've witnessed the whole scene, but was smiling so brightly now before she retreated back into the hallway.

"Thank you." Was all Tien could say, his voice almost cracking from regret and gratefulness. He extended his hand out to the man in a genuine show of good will. After a moment, the man shook Tien's hand silently, but knowingly content. Gine almost felt like breaking down too from seeing such a beautiful thing as atonement.

A moment later, the man's wife came out with their baby boy fast asleep in her arms and clutching the reflective orange glass of the five-star ball.

She pried it from his hands and handed it to Gine. She eyed the baby cradled in the woman's arms as she took the dragon ball.

"He's beautiful." Gine said sincerely. The boy had a mop of messy hair on his head. That looked so familiar to her...

The woman smiled. "Thank you."

The baby stirred and yawned. Gine's heart melted, remembering what Kakarot was like when he was a baby too. Time truly flew by...

And, somewhere buried deep in the recesses of her heart, a corner long left unvisited but never to be forgotten...what her firstborn son was like as a baby...

"You have a little boy too?" The woman asked, catching Gine by surprise.

"I do." Gine answered, looking up at her and then back to the boy. "He's fifteen now. But...you never forget how precious they are when they are this small..." She said distantly, with joy and long buried sadness.

She subconsciously mentioned her only surviving son. Gine had gotten accustomed to that by habit than by will. But no matter how much time has passed, the unimaginable pain of acknowledging her own offspring, her own flesh and blood, as deceased never went away...

The woman seemed to have sensed her pain, as if she already knew. Gine found it a little unsettling, yet felt a sort of kindred spirit. Would a mother know from one to another? Regardless of she was human or Saiyan?

The woman looked away, as if to confirm Gine's notion. She probably knew what she was feeling deep down. But didn't go deeper. Only a mother knew...

"They truly are precious." The woman said softly, stroking the baby's forehead with her thumb.

Gine knew what she meant, and nodded. Whatever her pain was, she could never forget Raditz. To love him as much as she loved Kakarot. Alive or dead, it was a mother's love...

"Let's be on our way then!" Said Roshi, getting everyone back on track.

May as well, Gine thought. They had a world to save. For this mother, and millions of others across the planet.

"Let's go!" She said as they all left the house.

She stopped to take one last look at the woman and baby, accompanied by the man now putting a loving arm around her.

"Guess we won't just take it next time?" Gohan asked.

"Shut up." Gine shot back as they left, she was trying hard not to look back.

* * *

"I NEVER SHOULD HAVE WAXED MY HEAD!" Roshi's voice echoed from inside the cave. Gine wondered what the hell was going on in there.

She and the rest of the gang waited in the jet while Roshi and Tien went into an opening in the spiked mountain range. Based on what they saw on the dragon radar, this should have been an easy find...

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Tien shouted from inside.

Gine sighed and ran out of the jet, darting into the cave. She muttered that she should've just gone in with them in the first place.

She was readying herself for whatever it was that Tien and Roshi were up against, but then stopped as the two of them ran past her.

"That's my head, not a bird feeder!" The elder martial arts master wailed in irritation as they were followed by a horde of black crows. Gine shielded herself as the flock flew past her and after the pair.

Gine groaned, relieved at the false alarm but now caught in a maelstrom of plucking and scratching.

Tien and Roshi had fought their way through but now the rest of the horde turned on Gine, diving on her to peck at the new intruder.

Annoyed to a degree she never knew from these ravens, Gine let out a powerful yell and charged up her ki.

The strength of her voice echoed was matched by the resulting blast of energy and wind that blew the birds away like leaves in a storm. Tien and Roshi were knocked over as the blast wave hit the cave walls too. The wind settled, but the tunnel shook. Stalactites started falling and the shaking became more violent.

"Oops." Gine yelped to herself, and ran back towards the entrance; realizing she may have accidentally started a cave-in.

She quickly caught up to Tien and Roshi. Without stopping, she grabbed both of them by the collars with each hand and yanked them up.

"What the?!" Roshi cried out indignantly as she ran as fast as she could with them in tow through the gnarled twists and turns of the tunnel.

They reached the light at the entrance and the shape of Capsule Corp jet appeared, Gohan and the others clinging to the sides as the ground shook beneath them.

"Master, Gine, Tien, hurry!" Gohan called out to them.

Bulma and Launch started the engines as fast as they could, ready to escape as the cliff ledge where they were parked on was about to collapse.

Gine unceremoniously tossed Roshi and Tien into the jet as she jumped in. A few moments later, they were off again as the cave entrance, and the cliff they were just on, fell to the valley floor below.

The mountains shrank behind them as they rocketed off over a forest.

"That was close!" Yamcha said, everyone agreeing offhandedly.

Roshi turned to Gine, annoyed. "What was that all about?!"

Gine waved her hands defensively. "Thought you two were in trouble."

"We were! By just a bunch of..." Roshi said, then trailed off. "Never mind."

Gine glanced at Roshi a little longer. She felt a little guilty for the cave in, but still...

"You're welcome." She said to herself, but in Roshi's direction.

"We've been lucky so far, got four dragonballs without too much trouble." Said Tien, as he held up the six-star ball for them to see.

"Speak for yourself! Hope that didn't leave a scar." Roshi joked as he rubbed the back of his head, already patched with bandages from being devoured by the crows.

"King Piccolo doesn't seem to be in a rush to expand his collection." Gohan said as he watched the dragon radar.

"I wonder what he is up to?" He asked as Gine took a seat next to him, holding onto the other dragonballs.

"Maybe he doesn't need them?" Offered Oolong, joking hopefully.

"He's probrably preoccupied with exterminating martial artists." Said Roshi grimly. The interior of the jet fell silent at that, until Gohan pressed the button on the radar to expand it's view.

"Wait, the radar's flashing again!" Gohan pointed.

"You're right!" Gine said, another dot of light blinking on the scope about a thousand kilometers from their current position.

"Bulma, turn around. The next one is that way!" She called out and pointed off to the crafts side.

"Got it!" Bulma confirmed and banked the jet hard towards the last target. The ground below giving way from forest to desert canyons.

"With only three dragonballs left, this could be Piccolo himself or at least one of his minions." Tien guessed, Gine and Yamcha nodded at what that prospect held.

"If that's the case then we might have to fight him first hand. It's bound to happen sooner or later, I just hope we are ready." Said Roshi, not as eager as the rest of them.

"I'm sure we'll win." Chiaotzu said optimistically, then looked at Gine. "We have her on our side!"

"Yeah!" Cheered Chi-chi. "Gine is the strongest of all of us!"

"That's right!" Puar echoed.

"Yeah, with her we got nothin' to worry about." Oolong added.

"Yeah that's right! If that wimpy Tambourine guy was any indication, I say Piccolo should be more afraid of her than us of him!" Yamcha said, earning a laugh from everyone.

Gine smiled, embarrassed and appreciative. She still couldn't get around just how much warmth she felt in her Saiyan heart at how these people trusted her with their lives, like the battle companions she never had.

Roshi, however... "Indeed we do, she may be our best hope of defeating King Piccolo in a head-on battle ...but you must know that he is a cunning and powerful foe. We can't always be certain that we could defeat him for sure."

Gine shook her head in disbelief, how could someone so wise sound so defeatist? She single handedly beaten Tambourine and Crane, what more convincing did he need?

"And we still need the last dragonball he took from Krillin. So our best bet is to sneak in through the back door, surprise him, and take the ball while he is not looking."

He thought for a long moment, looking at Gine doubtfully. Then said, "If we must, we can have the Eternal Dragon defeat him."

"That's way too passive for my taste, Master." Said Tien. "I say we fight him hand to hand and destroy him!"

"Yeah!" Everyone loudly seconded that.

"Same here, I could probably take him out no problem." Offered Gine, grateful for everyone's support and reminding Roshi yet again what she could do.

Roshi glared at her, "I understand how you all feel, but he is more powerful than you realize. Even with our combined strength, Piccolo still has us at a disadvantage for being a demon king. Dark powers are on his side, which allows him to do things no amount of strength can match. So our best bet is to concentrate on bringing the dragonballs together. And as much as I trust you, Gine, we'll let the Eternal Dragon exterminate King Piccolo."

"But I thought our purpose in getting the dragonballs together was so we could resuscitate Krillin." Tien pointed.

"The dragon will only make one wish and the balls will scatter again, correct?" Asked Chiaotzu

"I know. But after one year, we can gather the dragonballs back together again to revive Krillin then. I hope."

An uncomfortable silence worse than before fell on them. Gine could feel it.

No one liked that idea.

"I know I built a freezer for him, but a year is quite a long time for him to stay dead." Bulma said for them all.

Yamcha thought the same thing too, "Make's my stomach churn." He said at that. "To be dead for so long before coming back, what would that even be like?"

"Hopefully, not as a living skeleton." Oolong quipped. No one laughed.

"Does take the whole weight off of dying, when you think about it." Oolong then added, but no one said anything either. Somehow that sounding worse to think about than his joke earlier. And that made Gine wonder too...

"Um, hey, the radar is blinking." Chiaotzu said to Gohan.

"Huh?"

Gine snapped out of her mind and looked at the screen in Gohan's hand. Indeed it was beeping as another dot was now within range.

"Hey you're right!" She exclaimed, then looked outside the window to see they were now over a vast desert of deep rocky canyons.

"I think the radar shows the fifth dragonball to be in this ar-"

Suddenly, Gine gasped sharply.

She felt a stabbing pain in her heart. An overwhelming sense of loss, like a piece of her soul was just taken.

"Uh, yeah? Gine?" Chiaotzu asked her, noticing that Gine didn't respond. Gohan also noticed she was lost in a trance.

"Kakarot..." She whimpered.

"What? Kakarot?" He asked.

Gine didn't answer, and began trembling. It was a pain she remembered all too well. One she hadn't felt since the day Planet Vegeta was destroyed. She wasn't sure if it was true, but also not sure if she could deny it either...

Now Gohan was alarmed. "Gine? What's wrong? What happened?"

 _Did he..._ Gine thought to herself, not realizing she was hyperventilating. _Did he-_

"Gine! Whats up with you?!" Gohan nearly yelled, snapping her out of her despairing and drawing the attention of everyone else in the jet.

She starred at Gohan, but couldn't catch her breath.

"I... Kakarot. I think he..." She tried to say, panic creeping into her voice. "...something bad happened."

Roshi came down the isle to them.

"Gine, are sensing Kakarot in peril?" He asked her. Gohan trying to reassure her with a hand on her shoulder.

Gine shook her head, not entirely out of uncertainty.

"I...I don't know...It's, I felt...I felt like as if...Something horrible has happened to him somewhere...I felt... he's...dead." She chocked that last word through tears threatening to fall.

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed in disbelief.

"How do you know?!" Gohan asked incredulously.

Gine tried to explain. "It's as if... I felt his heart stop beating..." She said, looking out into nowhere. Her eyes glazed over. "It's as if I can't feel his presense anywhere. Like that day, when...when out home planet was..."

"Oh dear." Roshi said seriously.

"NO! NOT MY KAKAROT!" Chi-chi wailed.

"What? He can't be gone like that!" Yamcha yelled.

"Are...are you sure this isn't some sort of trick? Because it ain't funny!" Oolong added.

Gine shook her head, mournfully. "I don't..." She was on the brink of sobbing. "I don't know...what if he is?! What if he's really-"

"Gine, listen." Gohan shook her shoulder. "You need to stay calm. Whatever it was you felt, it may not mean Kakarot is dead."

"HOW WOULD YOU KNOW!?" She screamed, the dread overtaking her completely.

"He may have disappeared beyond your reach, or he may be just your worry playing tricks on you. But you don't know for sure, right?!" He said to her without looking away.

Gine sniffled. "I don't...No, I-I don't think so... I just felt like...I knew. He's my son afterall, I should know if he's..." She couldn't bring herself to finish that sentence. Maybe it was a universal constant that a mother always knew if her child was in grave danger or dying, but with how she worried so much about him...

"Gine, Gohan is right." Roshi said, "You may not sensing well enough to know if it's true or not. But don't assume your son is dead because of a bad feeling. And King Piccolo is a powerful foe as I said he is. A master of mind tricks and striking terror into the hearts of anyone."

Gine looked at Roshi at that. "He-he'd be making me feel this?" She asked.

"Absolutely, he used to mentally torture people with the things they were most afraid of, and could sometimes control people with them. So he could take the thing you fear the most and make it become a reality like losing your son. You need to calm your mind and not think about that, alright? That is how he would try to take a hold of you and break your resolve to challenge him."

Gine kept breathing hard, but Roshi's words rang in her head. She wanted to believe in them. As much as her gut was telling her otherwise, even though she never thought of "sensing" before...

Her chocked breathing slowed, and managed to utter, "Okay..." And tried as hard as she could to calm herself down.

"Nothing has happened yet, so, let's get the last dragonball and end this madness. And then we'll go find Kakarot. Alright?" Gohan said reassuringly.

The feeling of what seemed like Kakarot's fading life force still screamed in the back of her mind, but she somehow managed to quiet it enough to be pushed further back. Something Gohan taught her to enhance and bring out after all the things she's compartmentalized over the years. Whatever this was, like any other worry, she could deal with it later.

"Okay, you're right. Thank you, Gohan." Gine said sincerely, and hugged Gohan lightly.

Roshi looked more doubtful than ever. "You see? This also shows you are not ready to take on-"

"Master!" Gohan interrupted. Garnering a look of annoyance at his former student.

"Let's worry about that later, the dragonball is right underneath us!" Gohan pointed back at the radar.

Everyone almost forgot about it while being drawn to Gine's dilemma, but indeed the jet was right on top of it.

"Right!" Said Launch, and jammed the throttle and controls down as they nose dived to the ground.

Everyone hanged on as they dove.

"I'm sorry about that." Gine told Gohan over the racket.

"Don't worry about it, you could have just been feeling things that aren't real."

"I know, but... it feels so real." Gine said. "How would King Piccolo have gotten word of me and being worried of losing my son? It's not like-"

"Gine, it's alright." Gohan tried to say sternly, reeling in Gine's worry trying to resurface. "Piccolo is a master of mind tricks. As my Master told me and all of us: that monster takes joy in terrorizing the hearts and minds of innocent people. He may know about you and Kakarot. If that demon you fought earlier knew where to find all those fighters, then it's possible he may know what would terrorize a mother most."

Gine thought of what Gohan said. It all made perfect sense. For an evil being it sounds like the most twisted way to torture someone. She had to admit not even Frieza could do something like that, as far as she knew. But, it sounded like a logical explanation. And as much as her mind wants to find some hole or reason in it to think it was real.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." Gine nodded, her heart finally slowing from it's rapid pace of fear.

Gohan smiled, "Good, no worries my dear. I believe in you, so once we get this last dragonball…" He said almost on cue as they touched down on the rocky ground. "...then we'll bring that beast to justice."

"Right." Gine said, finding her confidence in her plan again. "We will."

The loading door to the jet opened and they all filed out. Gine followed out last, her mind now focused on finding the next ball. And the nagging feeling of how Kakarot was doing was pushed to the back of her mind... almost.

* * *

"It's gotta be within a few meters of here!" Gohan said as he held the radar, the light blinking rapidly. Everyone fanned out and searched under every rock and crack they could find.

Gine looked too, following behind Gohan as they walked in circles to narrow down the ball's signature.

The radar blinking grew faster and faster until it was a single note.

"Should be right here!" Gine said, looking at the radar and around. The large boulders were too numerous to check each one.

Still, Gine saw a large enough gap under a tall boulder, and bent down.

"FOUND IT!" She yelled, as her face and smile were lit up by the reflected light of the three-star ball.

Everyone cheered and ran to her. She reached with her arm, but stopped as it was too short for her to reach even half the distance.

Gine tried to outstretch her arm further...but stopped suddenly.

"Wait a minute, what am I doing?" She said aloud.

Standing back up, she walked around the back side of the near twenty foot tall boulder, and lifted it up by the base with one arm as if it were Styrofoam.

"Got it!" She beamed as she dropped the giant rock without flinching when it hit the ground with a shatter, and held the ball overhead victoriously. Everyone cheered as the gang gathered around to see it.

"That's the fifth one." Yamcha broke it to them all. "Now there's only one left, and then there's the one King Piccolo has!"

Roshi nodded in agreement, "Then we must be on our guard."

Gohan pressed the button on the radar a couple times, then he gasped in alarm.

"What is it? Is the radar broken?" Bulma asked curiously.

"I don't think so, my dear. According to this... the other two dragonballs are together. And they are headed straight for us!"

"WHAT?!" They all shouted.

"But..." Bulma stuttered in confusion. "What could that be..."

Then it hit.

"It has to be King Piccolo, he's coming to destroy us!" Tien said, clenching his fists.

Bulma, Puar, and Chi-chi screeched in terror, clinging to each other for safety

"Then let's get the hell outta here!" Oolong shouted. The panic spreading fast through the non-combatants in the group.

"No." Roshi said, "It was going to happen sooner or later. He's coming after the dragonballs as well."

"Then I guess it's time we face him." Gohan said reluctantly.

"No problem." Gine said, clenching her fists. "We'll send that 'demon king' back to hell, where he belongs. For Krillin!"

Roshi shook his head. "No."

"What?! Are you serious?!" Tien and Yamcha yelled at him.

Gine just looked at him, aghast.

"Let me make one thing perfectly clear to all of you." Roshi said, removing his shades. "We have next to no chance in defeating King Piccolo in a hand to hand fight. We HAVE to get his dragonballs and call upon the Eternal Dragon. And it will be the Dragon's privilege to remove Piccolo from this world."

"You don't know that, Master, what about Gine?!" Tien argued. "You saw what she is capable of, she's the strongest fighter on the planet! And Gine said so herself, she could fight Piccolo!"

"I'm not leaving the fate of the Earth in her hands! And none of you know Piccolo like I do!" Roshi yelled. "This is the only way we can be rid of him forever. We can't take our chances with-"

"Oh shut up!" Gine yelled.

Everyone looked at her agape from that outburst.

"I said it before and I'll say it again: we are not wasting a wish to defeat this fiend. For we still have to get the two other dragonballs that he may have secured them in some way we don't know of. So we are going to fight him anyway. And as a Saiyan, I will deal with this threat myself."

Roshi starred her down in a deadly glare, as if wondering how this woman could dare challenge his wisdom, experience, and feelings.

Gine discretely noticed how Roshi felt for a spray can in his pocket, as if anticipating him to pounce on her with it.

"Don't make this difficult, Master Roshi." Gine growled, spreading her arms defensively into stance as if readying for a fight. She knew he could take him, if she has too...

"Both of you, please!" Gohan yelled. "Every second we waste, Piccolo is getting closer. We have to work together and figure out what to do!"

"Gohan's right, we can't just stand here and fight each other!" Chi-chi said.

"I go with Gine, I say we let her fight him. She's the strongest and can still save the wish to revive Krillin." Yamcha said.

"Yes! It's what Kakarot would have wanted too!" Chi-chi said.

"Same here!" Tien and Chiaotzu said.

Everyone sided with Gine while Roshi looked seething at how everything was falling apart around him. Even Gohan looked uncomfortable, caught between his best friend and companion and the fury of his former Master.

"Are you THAT stubborn, Master?!" Yamcha shouted. But Roshi didn't budge.

An uncomfortable silence fell on them as they decided what to do next, broken only by the beeping of the other dragonballs getting closer. As if the groups fate as much as the world rested on them.

Gine counted the seconds in her head as she starred off Roshi. At this rate, King Piccolo was due to show up any minute and settle this argument anyway. But she figured that if that's the case, if push came to shove, she'll fight him when she sees him.

Roshi won't be able to stop her so it'll be taken care of anyway, they can sort it out later. They had a mission.

"Wait!" Tien suddenly perked up. "Master, what about the Evil Containment Wave?" He asked.

"I told you, Tien Shinhan, that's a ridiculous idea!" Roshi rejected violently.

"Forgive me, Master, but it worked before, right? Isn't it what Master Mutaito used to imprison King Piccolo?"

"In exchange for his life, yes. But there's no guarantee it will work. If you fail..." He looked at Gine, "the dragonballs will be our only hope."

Gine wanted to argue more, but somehow couldn't find the words to change his mind. He seemed so determined to take of this King Piccolo problem his way that he won't consider anything else. Not even the fact that she's the most powerful being on the planet. So why wouldn't he just...

She couldn't understand why this man, the mentor of the most trusted and kindest soul she ever knew by the name of Gohan, could be so adamantly against Tien's suggestion. There must have been more to the Evil Containment Wave than she realized. She could see how it frightened him, and how powerful it must be. Still, if it was the only proven technique to have incapacitated King Piccolo before, it should be worth it to do it again. To give his life for the safety of an entire planet was worth it!

And she didn't want to leave her son's best friend to rot like that, even if they were bringing him back. Something about wasting a divinely-granted wish on defeating an enemy instead of saving a friend's life seemed so wrong to her, even cowardly.

Yet, the cost of one life for millions...

"Since our gathering of the dragon balls was to originally revive Krillin, and if you do indeed succumb to using the Evil Containment Wave, couldn't we just revive you alongside Krillin?" Gine suddenly blurted.

Everyone stared at her as if she had ten heads. But Tien broke spoke quickly.

"That's brilliant, Gine!"

"It's horrible...but ingenious!" Oolong said.

"Yeah, that's a good idea!" They all agreed on. Gohan was silent, however.

As for Roshi...

"NO!." Roshi said flatly.

"Oh, please! You said so yourself it was the only surefire way that defeated King Piccolo once. If it works and even if you do die, we'll bring you right back since we'll have all the dragonballs with us. But if I beat him myself, you won't have to worry about any of it either way. I don't see why you have such a problem with that."

Roshi looked at her with nothing to say. How could this woman come up with something so... perverse? Even Gohan looked at her a bit perturbed. He knew she could be rather blunt sometimes, but this idea was beyond anything he could imagine from her.

"While your plan is indeed sound, Gine, I don't appreciate the fact that you are essentially trivializing my own mortality as if it were an easy fix."

Gine sighed, then thought of Oolong's joke from earlier.

"I see what you are getting at. But when you think about it, it's the only way that we can accomplish everything we need to. If you are indeed right that I cannot beat Piccolo, this is the way that will bring everyone back and Piccolo sealed away for good. And besides, why waste a wish like that. And as I said, I can beat him. SO this will only be a last resort."

Roshi opened his mouth to speak, then stopped and opened it again several times. It made sense, in a rather wrong kind of way. It was perverse, but, it just might work. And he couldn't find the words to rebuff her.

 _Nothing wrong with a diplomatic approach, right?_ She said to herself, almost finding the situation funny.

If there really was no other way to save the world AND his own life...

"Uhh...uh guys?" Oolong squealed, looking west towards the horizon.

"I think you might wanna decide on something quick!"

They all looked at where he was pointing to, and collectively gasped in horror.

The hairs on her neck stood up. She could feel it, they all did.

Up there, a dot on the sky that was rapidly growing larger, appearing to be a sort of craft approaching them.

Gohan had only to take another glance at the radar to confirm their fear.

"He's here." He said, his voice trailing of in a terror Gine never knew he had.

Gine quickly whirled to Roshi. "Well? What's it gonna be?"

Roshi looked at the rapidly approaching craft, which seemed to be an airship. He could feel a dark presence onboard. One he never wanted to feel again.

"Let's end this little reign of terror, once and for all, alright? For Earth! For Krillin!" Gine said almost chantingly.

He looked up to the airship, to Gine, and back again. His mind a whirlwind of thoughts, memories, and decisions.

He thought of Krillin. His own pupil, Kakarot's best friend. The life taken by what lurked up in that ship.

As a Master, could he really leave him to rot?

He had seen Kakarot's strength. Marveled at it's raw potential, and at who he had inherited from in Gine. And how she, and her child made a new life in the one place of the universe they could truly call home.

And that home plunged into darkness again.

He will not let that happen again...

And as much as he feared it, Master Mutaito proved that even the demon king could be beaten...

...

"Only as a last resort. Understood?" He said with finality.

"Understood." Gine nodded.

Roshi nodded back, smiling that they finally decided.

They looked back at the airship, now almost in view.

Strangely enough, Gine allowed herself something she hadn't given herself in a long time, a wicked grin. As morbid as her idea sounded, at least she could be the voice of reason for once.

But, she won't need to. It was time to face King Piccolo himself...

* * *

 **A/N: And so it begins, the first real showdown against a big baddy for Gine. How will it unfold?**

 **Tune in next time!**


	14. CHAPTER 13: GINE vs KING PICCOLO

****Hello again! Happy holidays to everyone wherever you may be! Sorry that it's been awhile, working lots of overtime during the holidays and spending leftover time with my family, but still kept up with writing this chapter so don't think I've forgotten about you! Especially now with the first big fight of the story: Saiyan Mama-bear versus the demon king!****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 13: GINE vs. KING PICCOLO

"Hey! That's Pilaf's airship!" Bulma exclaimed.

"What?!" Roshi and Gine turned to her, astonished. "Are you sure?"

"I am! Look!" She said, pointing towards it.

Gine looked up again, the airship was now close enough to make out details. It's bulbous forward viewport, it's giant wings, antennas, upper deck, and armed front to aft with turrets. A primitive war machine in Gine's eyes. And...

"Oh." She saw the word PILAF in huge letters on it's side. No doubt about it now.

"And King Piccolo is aboard that ship for sure?" She asked.

"According to the dragon radar, the other two dragonballs are on it. Unless Pilaf pried away those balls from him, it's likely got to be King Piccolo, regrettably." Gohan said, worried.

"No-no way!" Bulma stammered, her fear spreading among everyone else. Yamcha held her close to him, not helping his courage; Puar and Oolong turned into rocks to hide while Chi-chi and Chiaotzu backed away towards the Capsule Corp jet, ready to bolt.

"I knew Emperor Pilaf was evil, but he'd seriously side with King Piccolo?!" Yamcha sounded disbelieving.

Gine remembered from Kakarot's stories of the little blue creature that had a life mission on ruling the world, and had gone to such great lengths to do so while her son thwarted him every time. But she wondered what would drive him to side with it's destroyer? Was he a complete fool, or a hostage? Or did he finally snap and now wants to destroy the planet?

The airship came to a stop almost directly overhead. Whatever the reasons, she will deal with them if they tried anything.

 _ **"We have arrived, you're Majesty."**_ A woman's voice boomed from the airship's PA system, surprising them all. _**"We should be directly over the dragonba-"**_

 _ **"MAI, YOU'RE PRESSING THE WRONG BUTTON AGAIN! INTERNAL BROADCAST ONLY!"**_ Came another voice, this one shriller and sounding somewhat demeaning.

 _ **"Ah! Sorry Mast-"**_ The broadcast cutoff as the announcing woman panicked.

Everyone could not look away from the airship.

"Your Majesty?" Tien asked, "As in Pilaf or..." He let that hang, hoping against hope it wasn't what he thought it was.

A moment later, five figures gathered at the railing of the airship's upper deck to look down at them. One of them was far taller than the others. Even from a great distance away, the figure seemed giant. It was a shade of deathly ill-green, and Gine could feel the figure watching them from above, and could feel his dark and malignant stare.

"That's him..." Roshi whispered. A touch of cold fear in his voice.

They all, even the seasoned masters like Roshi and Gohan, trembled at the sight of what was above them.

But not her.

"Oh, why did we even bother coming out here today?!" Bulma whimpered, hiding behind Yamcha as he clutched her protectively.

Gine stared at the greenish shape of the being for a long time, her fists clenching and her tail whipping around like an angry snake ready to strike. She was ready to take him on, and eager to.

While she stared at him, he moved his arm to hold out something that glittered orange in the sunlight. Then he shoved them into his mouth.

"Did...did he just swallow the other two dragonballs?!" Tien said, astonished.

"Curses!" Roshi shouted despairingly. "He is more cunning than I thought. Now we'll have to beat those balls out of his rotten hide!"

"No problem." Gine said, cracking her knuckles.

Roshi looked at her like she was mad. But she knew what to do. She will deal with this herself.

Gine took her eyes off from look up and turned to them. "Bulma, are our dragonballs safe and secure?"

Bulma took a moment to let go of Yamcha and double check. "Uh, y-yeah. All of them right here!" She said as she held the bag that contained them. They started to cast a soft, pulsating glow.

"Good." Gine said, looking at the glowing orbs intently.

Then she looked around to address everyone present. "Alright, now, no matter what happens, we must keep these things safe. I'll fight this monster myself and I'll rip those balls out with my bare hands if I have too."

"Geesh." Oolong shuddered at that, thinking Gine could've worded that better.

"Once we get them, get as far away as you can and I'll destroy Piccolo." Then she looked up at the airship. "If they try to give chase or intervene, Yamcha, Tien, Launch... blow them out of the sky."

"Gotchya!" Launch said, proudly wielding a rocket launcher from thin air.

"Got it!" Both the other fighters confirmed.

"And... if should anything happen to you, or if Piccolo gets the upper hand?" Roshi asked expectantly, and he starred at her back with a knowing look as if she should mention something else.

Gine saw this, and said, "If that happens, then you can step in. But as you say, the Evil Containment is only as a last resort."

Roshi nodded ever so slightly. " _Only_ as a last resort." Not happy still that they were considering this option, but also knew that Piccolo had to be stopped, and by any means.

Gine nodded in return.

"Are we all clear on the plan?" She asked them all.

"Yes!" Said everyone in unison, acknowledging they were in it with Gine and whatever came next.

"Alright then. Everyone, stay back." Gine commanded, and stepped forward. Roshi, Gohan, Tien and Chiaotzu on either side of her.

'KING PICCOLO!" Gine shouted as loud as she could to the airship.

"WE KNOW YOU ARE UP THERE! AND IF YOU WANT THE DRAGONBALLS, YOU'LL HAVE TO COME DOWN HERE AND GET THEM!"

Everyone took a step back, terrified at Gine's gull to call out Piccolo.

King Piccolo did nothing for a moment, as if he didn't hear her.

But then, he floated over the edge of the railing, and dropped. He plummeted like a meteor down the several hundred feet to the rocky canyon floor, until he came to a sudden stop mere inches off the ground and landed on his toes about ten feet away from Gine.

"Thank you for the invitation. I look forward to your agony." He said, his voice a harsh deep sound.

Everyone shrank in terror, except Gine as she took in the sight of the planet-endangering demon causing all of their troubles. Aside from how decrepit and old he looked in his dark blue gi with the devil symbol, she was struck by how large he was. From up high, Piccolo looked tall. Up close, he _loomed_ over them. It was as if he could squash them with his own footfalls, his size making up for how elderly and frail he looked. A sense of timelessness in his eyes gave her a feeling that he had been around for a VERY long time, and knew all the ways someone could suffer, and how to inflict it. It sent a chill up her spine. For she knew those eyes before. She had seen it in Frieza's in the rare public glimpses she had of him on Planet Vegeta.

"I never wanted to be THIS close!" Said Oolong as he, Chi-chi, and Puar cowered behind everyone else.

"I take that you are King Piccolo?" She asked him.

Piccolo smiled crookedly. "I am."

"Then you are the one responsible for making those monsters that killed all those martial artists and our friends!"

"Can you forgive me?" He asked mockingly, then laughed in a horrible croaking sound.

That laugh made Gine's blood boil. She had never seen such a hideous creature that not only embodied evil, but enjoyed it. Was even nourished by it. That the pain and suffering of others gave it fulfillment, purpose, and life. How could something so sadistic exist?

But then another thought crossed Gine's mind. Something about King Piccolo that made her think he seemed somewhat familiar.

It must have been twenty years at least since she had seen something like him, but couldn't place it just right. The green skin, the antenna on his head...

Then it hit her. "You're a Namekian!"

Piccolo raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a what?" He asked, confused.

"I've seen your kind before. Thought you were more like pacifistic-types rather than bloodthirsty killers." Gine explained. There was a collective gasp from everyone behind her.

"Gine, you know him?!" Roshi asked hysterically.

Gine looked back at the martial artist reassuringly. "No, not _him_ personally! I know his species, from the planet Namek."

All of her friend's jaws fell to the ground. Yamcha pointed a shaky hand at King Piccolo. "He-he's an alien from outer space?!"

Gine glared at him. "You mean like me? Why yes, he is."

"Never heard of an evil Namekian before." She said, turning back to Piccolo. Then again, she asked herself how often she's ever heard of peaceful Saiyans.

His face was a picture of dumbstruck, "I-I'm from another planet?" He said, a touch of awe slipping into his evil voice.

Gine did a double take as if she didn't hear him.

"You seriously don't know you're from Namek?"

Piccolo didn't answer, still standing there digesting this little revelation. But to Gine, the answer was clear that he didn't. And if he didn't know what she was either...

"How would you know of such a thing anyway?" He asked finally, trying regain his composure.

An unnoticeable grin crept on her face. Piccolo is sure to be in for a shock.

King Piccolo noticed this, though, and glared at her. "Answer me, damn you! I demand you to tell me how do you know that!"

Gine looked at him defiantly. "You will receive no explanation from me."

Piccolo growled dangerously at her, "You dare defy me, woman?!" He yelled, anger boiling over in him.

"I ought to exterminate you right here and now and be off with the dragonballs!"

"Hmph" Gine laughed, not intimidated by his threats. "I'd like to see you try."

Piccolo's white hot anger at her was now blinding. He will no longer tolerate this insolent stranger refusing to budge and claiming to know more about him than he does himself.

Gine thumbed behind her towards Bulma. "All the dragonballs we collected are right there in the backpack she has."

"What?!" The blue-haired girl shrieked in terror, the eyes of the demon king scanning her and the bag she held. She wanted to disappear right where she stood.

"You can go ahead and take them... if you can get past me."

Piccolo's white-hot anger slightly dissipated, and the demon king chuckled at that boast she made.

"What's so funny?" Gine asked.

Piccolo smiled evilly again, now having regained his composure. "You are. You're either the bravest thing to ever live, or the stupidest, for standing before me like some great warrior baiting me for a fight."

He then nodded towards Roshi and Gohan. "And by the pathetic display of your martial arts master friends behind you, letting a woman stand before me instead of them. You humans are such cowards. I should feel insulted but seems quite hilarious in a way."

There it was again, just like Tambourine said. Gine wondered what was it with Earthlings and women in combat? She shook her head.

"Either way, it's time for you to pay for all that you have done." Gine declared as she got into fighting stance.

King Piccolo's fears evaporated. "Is that so?! Oh please, don't hurt me!" He ridiculed and he threw his head back in a loud, horrible bout of laughing.

Gine growled in her throat and clenched her fists hard.

She thought of Krillin, her sweet little boy's best friend. All the times he laughed, and joked, and looked up to her son, and her... and this monster killed him. And laughed about it. He murdered that little boy... he murdered all those people...

Piccolo caught his breath, "Ahhhh, that is hilarious. How could a woman _possibly_ best the great King Picco-"

Before he could finish his sentence, Gine kneed him in the face so hard his head hit his upper back. If he had bones, his neck would have snapped.

The force from the kneeing sent Piccolo flying backwards at high speed, crashing through a large cropping of rocks without losing momentum. Gine launched herself after him, flying through the debris cloud of the destroyed rock formation and reaching him to kick his side to propel Piccolo off again in another direction. Then she phased underneath him to punch what would have been his spine in as he was sent rocketing skyward. With him completely stunned and thrown like a ragdoll, she launched herself at him again.

She showed no mercy and wailed on him, landing barrages of punches whenever she caught him in her throws and kicking him around while he was unable to counter. All he could do was take the beating, every blow bending his Namekian body in ways that would've destroyed a human's and turned their skeleton into shards.

Gine wasn't sure what her power level was. She had long ago stopped giving it much thought with Gohan's philosophy that brute strength was not everything. But a part of her felt nostalgic for having a scouter out of curiosity.

She then realized that the gang was cheering her on from the distance. All of them slack-jawed at how she was easily tossing around the great demon king they were so afraid of, and shouting encouragements.

"WAY TO GO, GINE!" They all shouted separately and differently. "KICK HIS BUTT!" She heard too, not sure from who but it gave her a little smile during the one-sided fight.

After another hard kick to the back of the head, he grounded against the solid dirt and skidded to a stop on his face. He groaned in agonizing pain, and Gine was amazed that he was still conscious, let alone alive. But she could tell he was suffering.

A part of her felt disgusted in herself for causing this much pain to someone. She had seen it far too many times in her life.

But... the other part reminded her that this monster killed her son's best friend. And was being delivered due punishment. It made her feel good, release even, that she was hurting someone so evil.

She landed in front of him, fists clenched to her side while Piccolo struggled to look up at her, coughing up purple blood.

"HOW?!" Piccolo yelled in incomprehension and terror. "HOW ARE YOU SO STRONG?!"

Gine felt a sudden swell of pride in herself. She's never heard an opponent so frightened of her, and admit that she was stronger than them. After all the times she had been put down by comrades and foes alike, she had never beaten anyone to within an inch of their life, at least those who deserved it. It was all by her own hands, without the help of Bardock or anyone like she used too. It made her wonder... was that what actual Saiyan pride felt like?

The moment passed and she suppressed the thought. She wasn't done with him yet.

Not answering his question, she tucked a foot under him and kicked Piccolo high into the air as he screamed.

Gine jumped after and sped past him. Then, with her hands cupped, she spiked Piccolo on the head the way she saw Tien do to Kakarot back at the tournament. The strike made his head flatten almost pancake-like in her balled fists. The pain in his cry was drowned out as he hit the ground far below with a thundering crash of thrown dirt and boulders raining down in every direction.

Seeing where she was now, floating overhead a fallen Piccolo in a hole in the ground like that other monster she dealt with earlier, she felt a sense of Deja Vu. And so decided to finish Piccolo off the way she did to his minion. To think this monster threatened to conquer the Earth, and she was going to do him in like he was nothing.

Before the dust cleared, she plummets herself into the crater he made. Piccolo had no time to react as she landed the heel of her foot as hard as she could into Piccolo's gut, sending the two of them deeper into the crater.

The strike didn't kill Piccolo as she hoped, but she landed on his stomach _hard_. Piccolo gagged as his neck suddenly bulged, his eyes watered in pain. The bulge got bigger and he slapped a hand over his mouth as if trying to hold back from vomiting.

Gine saw it, to her it looked like he was choking. Then she realized something.

As hard as she could, she quickly raised her right foot and stomped her heel into his gut again.

That did it; Piccolo hawked and two orange spheres where spat out of his gullet, sent flying back from them.

They clinked onto the ground, bouncing once and rolling to a stop. The one and four star dragonballs.

Piccolo's watery eyes looked dazed, but he saw what he regurgitated. Looking to her and back at the balls, he pushed himself away with his feet, twisting around to reach for them.

But she was ahead of him. Gine leapt over Piccolo, and kicked them away with the side of her foot before he could get to them.

"NO!" He cried out in desperation, before she swung the foot she used to kick the balls away to kick him the other away.

Gine swung towards the gang, pointing towards where she kicked the dragonballs. "GET THEM!" She yelled at them.

Before anyone else could volunteer, Yamcha ran around the rocks toward where she pointed. While he did that, Gine refocused her attack on Piccolo and flew at him with another kick to send him crashing hard into the canyon wall, only to be barreled through the wall with another kick from Gine.

As Yamcha went to retrieve the dragonballs, the gang could only watch still jaw-dropped at this spectacle of the Demon King's humiliating tossing about. Roshi felt almost sorry for the demon king to be beaten in such an undignified fashion. _Almost._

Footsteps from the side of the gang's spot was Yamcha running towards them, a dragonball in each hand.

"I got them!" He shouted, holding them up in triumph.

They all cheered as he handed them to Bulma. "That's it! That's all of them!" She said, realizing what they had just accomplished.

"Let's not celebrate yet." Roshi said as he turned back towards the battle. Gine had sent Piccolo tumbling end over end into an already destroyed outcropping of rocks until he came to a stop, splayed out on his front and groaning.

"GINE! IT'S TIME TO FINISH HIM OFF NOW!" He shouted to her.

Gine looked back at Roshi, and nodded. Then turned to Piccolo as he struggled to move.

She felt bad for dragging the fight on longer than necessary even if it was justified, but now she could put him out of his misery and end the threat of his existence once and for all.

She started towards him, ready to charge a dual energy blast that would completely obliterate him. Quick and painless, she thought.

King Piccolo looked up from where he fell, aching in horrible pain and barely seeing though his bloodied face. The woman held out her hands to her side, two bright white spheres of light forming in each. He also saw a tail whipping around behind her.

He gasped in horror. This could really be the end for him? The Demon King Piccolo and his reign of terror to be done in by some woman with a tail? How? How could this be happening?! THIS CAN'T BE!

He eyed her tail again, then he suddenly remembered.

"Woman, wait!" He croaked out in pain, "That tail..."

"What about it?" Gine said, not slowing down in her stride as she charged up her attack. She wasn't sure where he was getting at, but decided that he lived long enough and wasn't going to let him have his last words.

"The boy!" He blurted.

Gine stopped in her tracks.

"What boy?" She asked after a few seconds.

Piccolo coughed as he tried to prop himself up. Then he paused, starring at her for a long moment as if examining her.

"What boy?!" Gine asked again, more forcefully this time. But a twinge of worry was laced in it.

Piccolo caught it though. He kept starring at her as pieces started clicking together in his head.

"I see now..." He said, a sinister smile creeping across his face as an idea came to him.

"You must have been his mother." He said.

It must have been the use of that past tense, but Gine was suddenly scared by what it meant.

"I said: What. Boy!?"

The demon king chuckled. She didn't change her deadly expression, but her voice betrayed her bravado though. She was rattled, and it confirmed his suspicions of who she was. And best of all, she didn't know yet what he had already done.

"Oh, nothing. Just some little runt I killed just not too long ago."

Gine's blood ran cold.

"WHAT! BOY?!" She demanded, almost screaming hysterically.

Piccolo merely kept smiling evilly as he stood back up, spitting out some shards of broken teeth while doing so.

"He had a tail, just like yours. Pint-sized little brat, eyes and hair as black as night... and clad in that disgusting orange rag your companions shared."

Gine couldn't believe what she was hearing. That WAS Kakarot. He had to be lying. Wasn't he?

"I take it that you must have been his mother...it would make so much sense. Pity that I should be the one to break this news to you."

Gine shook her head, "You're lying. My son is a true Saiyan, he'd never loose to a freak like you."

Piccolo shrugged off whatever the strange title of Saiyan was, and pressed on taunting Gine.

"Oh, but he did. He fell by my hands in battle. He was quick and strong for such a pathetic little thing, but he could not stand up to my wrath, and paid the price for witholding a dragonball and killing my children."

Gine felt panic rising within her. No, this couldn't be true. Could it?

Piccolo seemed like he could read her doubts. "I've made sure, myself. His heart was cold and still after I was done with him. Left him there to rot where he lay in the mud."

Gine couldn't believe him, but... he couldn't feel his heartbeat... just like she felt earlier.

"You must have felt it. Just like when I felt the life fade from Tambourine and Cymbal when they were killed. Surely you must a have felt the same. From one parent to another..." He said jokingly, gesturing from himself to her. "...like, a piece of you was torn?" He said, starring into her eyes, unnervingly unblinking and she failed to notice that they were glowing.

"No...y-you're lying!" She tried to say, but couldn't believe her own words.

She thought she could hear Roshi and the gang yelling at her from somewhere behind her, telling her to not listen to him. But their voices were distant and faded as if drowned out. She was too lost in fear of what may have happened to her son to register anything around her.

"Go ahead, try to reach out and sense him. I know you can, for someone as powerful as you." He asked.

Gine tried to tell herself this had to be a trick, it had to. But...she couldn't. What if Kakarot truly was dead? All she had left in the universe taken from her? A pit opened in her stomach as she could no longer stand the uncertainty.

She lost focus and zoned out in her senses, trying to feel Kakarot's ki signature. She couldn't feel it anywhere near her. Or...anywhere...

Her son's reassuring presence was a bright pillar of light among the little flickers of Earthlings across the planet, the brightest there is aside from her own. During his travels she picked up the ability from Gohan to sense energy signatures of living things. At the time she didn't believe it, saying to Gohan once that it'd be like using a scouter without a scouter. But after some focusing she was able to pick out the telepathic flames of every living thing's spirit around her. It was so overwhelming at first, to have the entire world open up inside her brain. After some meditation practice with Gohan to hone this new ability she was able to differentiate the separate and tiny specks of energy that were average humans, some brighter than others if they were martial artists. But she knew immediately which one was her son. It was impossible to miss, like the full glare of the sun against the glittering stars of night. Every now and then she used this to check up on him whenever he was away. Sometimes it dimmed or brightened, whenever he was injured or rejuvenated, but he was always there. Even when it was in the most dire of situations from Pilaf to the Red Ribbon Army, he was still there.

But now he was nowhere. She tried to feel something. Anything.

But...the great beam of light in the world, her world, was gone without a single trace of him... Maybe that was what she actually felt earlier in the transport. His light extinguished by Piccolo as he claimed he did.

Her chest clenched, unable to breathe as the realization was kicking it that her son was truly gone. Losing sight of King Piccolo for just a moment...

It was all the distraction he needed.

Faster than she could react in her worried state, Gine was struck in the face hard by a green fist. As she tumbled backwards, she thought of how much she had forgotten that it hurt to be punched in the face by someone even less than half as strong as her.

When she landed on her back, she was reeling from the surprise attack with her vision hazy and filled with spots. When it cleared, she saw Piccolo's arm stretched impossibly long. Apparently she also forgot that Namekians could extend their limbs to extreme lengths, the perks of a species not having bones.

With his still outstretched hand, Piccolo grabbed her ankle. Then as if in slow motion, he flings her high overhead and back down into the ground behind him in a powerful slam that knocked the wind out of her lungs. Still holding onto her leg, Piccolo flung her again in an overhead arch into the ground in another direction, having her face plowed into the ground while she was unable to break free or shield herself from the fall with just her arms.

Then like an overextended bungie cord, Piccolo pulled Gine towards him with his now shrinking arm. Closing the distance between them in the blink of an eye to meet her face with a solid punch, and another, and another...

"Did you think you could beat me?!" He yelled into her face with every blow, stunning her with each strike and preventing her from defending herself. Finally he let her go, and then the last punch sent her flying back.

He took the opportunity to go on the offensive and sprang after her. She managed to mentally regroup enough to meet his attacks with some pars and block a few hits, but only barely. She could faintly hear the voices of Roshi and Tien screaming in the background. But Gine couldn't spare the thought to figure out what they were saying, or what even to do to get out of this rut. She was too busy trying to get ahead of Piccolo, but couldn't figure out what to do next. One good hit from her would kill him for sure, but he gave her no opening to hit or escape, always answering a counterpunch with a vicious strike that forced her back into the defense and keeping her trapped on the backfoot.

She was still shook from being hurt for the first time in a long while in a real fight... and her mind was still reeling about the lurking fear of her son's death.

Piccolo pressed his attack further, laughing as he did so now that he was in control of the fight. Gine's guard started to slip further as he struck her more and more, her nerves becoming more rattled. He was savoring how he had turned the table so easily by getting into this woman's head, and seeing her so scared was worth as much if not more than the thought of beating her to a pulp.

But he soon realized that she was too strong for punches and kicks alone, no matter how scared he made her feel. So he backed off for a millisecond. Gine saw this, and it was enough for her to jump away... but it was what he wanted. Breathing room to fire his energy attacks.

Just as Gine landed, she gasped in alarm and leaped sideways as Piccolo fired off red laser shots from his eyes. Where she stood was blasted to smithereens with two closely-spaced parallel scorch marks. Then he turned his head to her and fired again, while she dodged and he kept her in his sights and followed her movements. He shot strike after strike, keeping her hoping around.

Gine struggled to keep up but he seriously had her on the run, not letting up his assault. Instead of blasting her with a broad-beam strike, these lasers were sharp and precise. Shots meant for concentrated damage and could go right through her if he scored a hit.

 _My baby... My little baby, all that I had left is gone!_ Her mind kept screaming at her. Gine tried hard not to focus on the pain now forming in her heart, but couldn't spare the energy lest she fail her defense and get struck.

Still, tears formed in her eyes. Her son was gone.

Gine screamed in despair as she barely missed another strike, the heat and debris splashing over her. She instinctively jumped up to try and get out of range. But now she wasn't even thinking properly.

King Piccolo smirked as he aimed his sight well above the now hysterical woman. He was leading his target, and she fell right into it.

He landed a beam shot right into Gine's gut, scorching her clothes and blinding her in searing pain. It felt like being stabbed with twin red hot irons.

The shot didn't go through Gine, but it propelled her in a long arcing fall. She landed hard and skidded across the ground on her back, groaning and clutching her singed stomach.

She rolled onto her side, clutching herself hard and breathing through gritted teeth. _Damn, that hurt!_ Gine cursed mentally. She held up her bloodied hands to see two dark red burn marks on her abdomen that smoked slightly. Huh, first time she's been made to bleed in a while too, she figured.

Before she could asses that she wasn't injured internally from the shot, Gine looked up to see that Piccolo landed near her on a tall ledge of rock, his height making him seem like he was standing triumphantly over her. With the sun behind him casting a shadow over his bloodied and glowing eyed face, he exuded an air of pure evil.

The Demon King laughed maniacally. Oh how his luck had turned, he may have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat afterall!

Gine was at a loss, how could this shriveled-up Namekian, a _slug_ with limbs, have overtaken her? Was she that pathetic?

"You and your son were truly alike. You are far stronger than I thought, but in the end you are both done in by your pitiful emotions. Whatever you are, you are no different than these humans. And you deserve to die as a weakling like the rest of them." King Piccolo gloated. He then held up two fingers to his temple.

"But don't worry, you'll be joining your little runt soon enough." He said as a glowing purplish light startled to crackle at his fingertips, pulsating with electricity.

Gine was in trouble now, there was no way to get around him and she was in no condition to charge him head on. And she didn't know if she could survive the blast he was charging, or if she could counter with one of her own. She was utterly defenseless and didn't know what to do.

Typically she would've drawn upon her anger as a Saiyan to keep fighting in a last stand, but she wasn't angry at Piccolo, she was at herself. This was the first time that she had been in a real fight in almost two decades since she left the frontlines of the Planet Trade Organization. She had never expected to be in another fight for as long as she lived on Earth, with only her son and Gohan to quell her Saiyan instincts with sparring. But she should've known that she could never escape her destiny as a Saiyan, to always be ready for battle, to kill or be killed when someone came along intent to fight her to the death and protect those she loved. And now, here she was against a foe that was going to kill her, and she could do nothing to stop him. And worst of all, all her efforts meant nothing.

She had let Bardock down. Raditz...and Kakarot... she let them all down. She couldn't save any of them, let alone herself. And Gohan... she wanted to weep for the man who gave them a second chance at life. And she let him, and all of her friends, down. Now this monster was free to conquer the world and make it burn.

"Now..." Piccolo growled, his evil smiling replaced with gritted teeth of murderous rage as his attack was now fully charged.

Not the first, but maybe for the last time in her life, Gine gave in to hopelessness... This was it. If there was any solace in this, she will be seeing her son... _both_ of her sons, soon.

"YOU DIE!" Piccolo yelled, as he jumped to launch his attack...

Suddenly, Piccolo froze in mid-air.

"W-wha?!" Piccolo shouted in shock, his face a mask of incredulity as he realized he couldn't move. The energy he charged in his attack dissipated.

Gine too was surprised. She then heard running footsteps beside her.

"GOOD WORK, CHIAOTZU!" Tien shouted as he skidded to a stop beside Gine, sliding an arm around her to get her back onto her feet quickly.

"Huh?" Gine just stared at Tien, unsure of what was happening.

"Gine, hurry, get back up!" He said urgently as she struggled to get up, fighting the excruciating pain in her stomach. Tien helped her stand and then charged back to where he came, with him still gripping her tightly.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?!" Piccolo suddenly cried out in fear as he looked down at the ground. He had almost entirely forgotten about the other humans this woman brought along. Then he looked at the others as Gine did.

She looked up to see Chiaotzu pointing a glowing finger towards Piccolo. Roshi stood beside him, arms outstretched and glowing a greenish-hue. She also noticed Gohan holding an electric rice cooker, it's lid open.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled, realizing too late what it was.

"ROSHI, NOW!" Tien shouted.

" **EVIL CONTAINMENT!** " Roshi's voice rang out in all directions.

Gine felt a great pressure in her core and a rush of wind and raw energy all around her as a whirlpool of emerald light enveloped the air like a hurricane.

'"NOOOO!" Piccolo was caught in the vortex. His entire form stretched and contorted into the swirl of the wave, his screams of despair distorted as he circled closer and closer towards Roshi like water down a drain.

Piccolo was shrunken down to a blinding white sphere and with a swipe of Roshi's arms, the green ball of light was thrown towards Gohan.

"CATCH HIM WITH IT!" Roshi yelled over the roar of wind.

Gohan carefully moved the open cooker into the path of the Wave, bracing himself. Then, the flow of light that was King Piccolo poured into the cooker, Gohan trying not to fall over from the force of the energy emanating from it.

Then the stream of green light ended, and the inside of the jar glowed with an abhorrent green blindness. Piccolo's cries of terror echoed from inside like a deep well. Gohan struggled to close the lid, as if Piccolo was trying to force himself out.

"CLOSE IT! CLOSE IT NOW!" Roshi screamed desperately, kneeling in pain.

With one great push of effort, Gohan snapped the lid of the cooker shut. The green light, extreme wind, and Piccolo's screams all suddenly vanished.

* * *

It was quiet again. Gine and Tien stood up from where they were knocked over by the wind.

"What just happened?" Gine said, amazed and still clutching her tattered midsection.

"The Evil Containment Wave." Tien said, just as awestruck as she was.

"I guessed right that it would do the trick of sealing away King Piccolo. But I never imagined it's power once I saw it with my own eyes..."

They starred at Gohan holding the unassuming rice cooker he held to for dear life. It looked nothing extraordinary, even after what they had just done. Chiaotzu stood close to him looking over the cooker in wonder. Off to the rocks behind them, Bulma and Yamcha emerged from hiding along with Oolong, Chi-chi, Launch, and Puar.

"So...it's done, then." Gine said with finality.

"That's right." Tien nodded without looking at her.

The great Demon King Piccolo had been sealed away...

A thud sounded as Roshi collapsed beside Gohan.

"MASTER!" Tien shouted, sprinting after him. Gine followed suit behind him.

Everyone gathered around Roshi, Gohan rolling him over on his back to help him breathe.

"Hang on, Master! We'll get you home soon!" Gohan said urgently, placing his hand on his master's head to transfer some of his energy to him.

Roshi weakly reached up and grabbed Gohan's wrist in protest. "No." He said, his voice faint and exhausted.

"What?!" Gohan didn't understand. His master didn't want his student to save his life?

"The seal." He asked.

"Right here, Master." Gohan held up the rice cooker. "The Wave worked, Piccolo has been sealed away forever now."

"Good." Roshi sighed in an immense relief. "That's all that matters. We must make sure... no one can ever find it."

"I know, Master, I know. Please, save your strength." Gohan tried to shoosh Roshi.

"The bottom of... the ocean won't do anymore... need to find somewhere... where it can never be found... until the end of time if... need be." Roshi continued, his voice growing softer and coughing once.

"We know Master, we will. But, we need to get you to a doctor or-"

"No." Roshi shook his head. "Not...enough...time." He said, coughing again with blood in it now.

"What?! But Master!" Tien shouted, now by his fallen teacher's side. Gine standing behind Tien as he kneed to talk to him.

"Master, I thought you said you took the life-sustaining potion!" Tien asked incredulously.

Roshi shook his head. "Never... touched the stuff..." He then looked over to Bulma.

"Bulma... the last... dragonballs that Piccolo...spat out..."

Bulma quickly looked through her pack, then pulled two orange orbs out. "Right here! The one and four star balls! We got all of them now!"

"Good." Roshi coughed wheezily. "I may not... make it to a doctor in time... The Containment Wave took too much of my lifeforce... So... we will go with Gine's back up plan and... call upon the dragon... and resuscitate me alongside Krillin."

They all starred at him silently for a moment.

"Got it." Bulma said softly. She felt slight wrong about all this. Their Master and dearest of friends was dying, and he was asking them to let him die just to bring him back as if jump starting a car. It felt wrong to her, and so she almost started weeping.

Roshi turned to Gine, her eyes watering at the sight of her newest of dear friends dying. It was all her fault...

"I'm so sorry..." Gine choked out. "I failed you."

Roshi shook his head weakly from side to side. "No... that was... the most incredible fighting I have... ever seen. You did not fail... Piccolo is a deceptive monster..."

"But no more." Gohan declared, holding onto the cooker but unable to not shed a tear for his dying Master.

Roshi closed his eyes, his breathing slowed and they could all feel his life force leaving.

"Tell... Kakarot... I was...proud..." He whispered so faintly, until finally he went still.

They all stood in silence. The great Turtle Hermit Master Roshi was dead.

Gohan, for all the time Gine had known him, started weeping softly in front of her.

Gine couldn't fathom how to feel. They should all be jubilant. King Piccolo, the great terror of Earth had been defeated and will never cause harm to anyone ever again.

But... at the cost of Roshi's life. Gine couldn't forgive herself. She had let him down, let them ALL down. She thought she could take the namekian on, but even he could beat her and she was on the brink of giving up anyway. Was she that weak? Had she become so complacent in her being the most power being on her that she became too overconfident?

And Kakarot.

Her last piece of her heart. The absolute reason for her being was just ripped from her. Her little boy, all she had left in the cosmos... She started weeping with Gohan too.

"Well, what are we just standing around crying for?! Watering the grass to grow?!" Oolong shouted at them. "You heard him! Let's summon the dragon and bring him and Krillin back!"

They all looked at each other. Never before had they ever imagined they'd hear that kind of statement in their lives. Now completely unhindered by death, that a simple wish could bring the ones they lost back. This was such a weird day.

"Er, right." Tien said uneasily, but still held his hands in prayer over his fallen Master before he stood up. He looked towards Bulma, who stood with her back to the open grounds where the battle took place. The backpack slung over her shoulder.

"So, Bulma let's set up the dra-"

"LOOK OUT!" Yamcha suddenly yelled, pointing at the sky.

The warning came too late as a hail of gunfire came raining down on the gathering. Gine reflexively crouched down, grabbing Tien and Gohan beside her.

What the hell was happening? Where was all this coming from?! She wondered aghast.

"Chiaotzu!" Tien shouted.

Slowly the annoying pings off of her skin stopped, and the dust clouded started to fade as a wall of bullets frozen in flight hovered right above them. Chiaotzu emerged from the dust, holding up his glowing finger. Gine then realized it was him who held Piccolo in place when he was sealed away. She really had to thank the boy.

Gohan had thrown himself over Roshi's body to shield it. Gine momentarily panicked and wanted to rush after him and pull him under the cover of the rocks. But he was fine, mostly. He had moved his arm with blinding speed, deflecting every shoot that came near Roshi's mortal shell. He didn't deflect every shot though as Gohan's arm sleeve was riddled with holes and bloodied too. He checked under his cloak and made sure the sealed rice cooker was still safe.

"Everyone okay?!" She yelled.

"Chi-Chi's hurt!" Yamcha cried out.

Gine glanced over to see Yamcha cradling Chi-chi. She coughed and cried out in pain as her stomach and leg poured blood from several gunshot wounds.

They rushed over to her, Gine looked over her to see that the shots missed important organs but looked extremely painful. The poor girl writhed, crying as he wounds flared and brought her to tears. Gine's respect for her grew that the girl much younger than her had to take a projectile shot through her unlike a Saiyan. She guessed humans were a lot tougher than she imagined.

Gine sprung into action, "Quick, Bulma, we need the medical-"

"Where's Bulma?!" She and Yamcha suddenly realized aloud.

A shrill scream came from above that they all heard.

"UP THERE!" Launched pointed. They all looked up and saw it.

"What?!" All of them cried incredulously.

"HELP ME!" Bulma screamed as she was lifted away by a robotic claw clutching her by the backpack, the claw on a cable leading into the belly of the Pilaf airship. What looked like it's machine gun turrets along it's underside had been what opened fire on them.

"It's Pilaf!" Yamcha exclaimed.

"They're taking her! And the dragonballs!" Puar and Oolong screamed in horror.

"OH NO!"

"GRRRR! Those cowards!" Launched grumbled. She pulled out her rocket launcher, pointing at the airship. Yamcha stopped her.

"No, wait! You could hit Bulma!" He cried out.

Gine stared at the infernal ship. This Pilaf Gang must've saw an opportunity to snatch their dragonballs when they were distracted. She had almost forgotten they were there.

The arm holding onto Bulma and the balls retracted into the belly of the ship, and they were flying away from them fast.

"Agh! They're getting away!" Tien screamed. And they all knew what it meant.

If they used the dragonballs. Then all of their friends will have died for nothing. Krillin, Roshi, Kakarot...

Or worse. If they were working for Piccolo, and if they tried to wish Piccolo free from his prison...

Gine growled furiously. That was it. She would have no more of this.

In a single leap, Gine jumped towards the airship with all the strength in her legs leaving a trail of dust and debris like a missile. Aiming for where the arm retracted, she crashed her way through the steal doors of the ships underbelly without feeling their impacts on her body.

Then through the deck above that, and through some very heavy machinery which exploded as she passed through it. Then finally the next deck leading into an open space inside the ship.

The airship suddenly lurched once she was inside, and Gine felt it pitch down.

She got into stance and took in her surroundings. It must have been the bridge, for the large window in the front loomed over her, and the ground rapidly approaching.

A crowd of three strangers huddled near the controls with Bulma being bound in place before them. A tall human woman with long dark hair and a military trench coat, then... a fox in a purple jumpsuit? And finally a blue midget with large ears and clad a black dress cloak for it's size.

Bulma flailed and complained, but screamed in horror again as the ship started to lose altitude even more rapidly.

"Mai! Quick, get us stabilized!" The blue creature shrieked, trying desperately to gain control of the ship. Gine guessed that had to be Pilaf.

"I can't Sire, the engines are gone! I can't regain control!" The tall woman, Mai, shouted back.

The mountains came forward quick. Gine realized she must've flown right through some critical systems for the engines when she burst in.

"Brace for impact!" Mai shouted.

Quickly, Gine leapt forward to cover Bulma just in time before the cacophony of crunching metal and grinding dirt and earth filled the world as the airship crashed into the mountains in a long skid until it came to a stop. Smoke billowed and engulfed them all as the engine's winded down and died.

Gine was covered in dirt by the impact, but barely moved from her spot. She panicked when Bulma didn't move beneath her, but she groaned in pain.

"Oooooww, Daddy, I don't wanna fly the plane anymore..." Bulma said deliriously, shocked that she was alive. Looking up in pain and rubbing her head, she recognized Gine and her face immediately lit up.

"GINE! you made it!" She hugged her tightly, unable to not show how grateful she was. But Gine winched when Bulma hugged her tightly around her injuries.

"Ow, OW!" She gritted before prying off Bulma. It was when Gine saw her hands on Bulma's shoulders that she knew something was wrong.

"Where's the backpack?!"

"They took it!" Bulma said, then looked around. "It's gotta be-"

In the rubble, Mai, Pilaf, and fox emerged from the dust and surveyed what was left of their flying fortress.

"NO! MY FLOATING PALACE! HOW COULD THIS-" His words stopped when he spotted Gine, and Mai and fox noticed too.

The three members of what must've been the Pilaf Gang, starred at her in utter terror that this woman who almost defeated Piccolo just charging through their walls to face them. She also noticed the giant chair in the center of what was left of the room, it's armrests made of bones. Piccolo's throne, she figured. And a dead pterodactyl lay at it's feet.

And Pilaf held on to Bulma's pack in his arms for dear life, looking like a child caught running off with a jar of cookies.

Gine pointed towards Pilaf. "Give that back." She said, sternly.

Pilaf said nothing, still shaking in fear. But remembered as if he ruled the world already. Then looked at his two minions.

"WELL DON'T JUST STAND THERE YOU IDIOTS! KILL HER!" Pilaf yelled at them as he tried to scuttle away from them, tripping over himself clumsily a couple times.

"Right!" Said the female soldier, and raised a machine gun at Gine while she strode after Pilaf.

"Prepare to die, in the name of Pila-"

Gine swatted her aside, not hitting her too hard but enough to send her crashing into the wall. She may had a concussion from that.

The ninja-clad fox cowered before her while Pilaf pushed him forward as if expecting him to fight. But Gine mercifully shoved him aside gently.

Pilaf tripped over himself again and found himself backed into a corner. Now he was alone and trembling with the stolen dragonballs against this strange and very angry woman with a... tail?

Gine gave Pilaf her deadliest glare, and pointed at the pack again.

"Give. That. Back." She demanded, giving this little creature one last chance to live.

Pilaf felt what was left of his courage vanish, and let his pride go.

'"Please don't hurt me! Here, here! Take it!"

Gine snatched it with a swoop of her hand, and turned around wordlessly.

Pilaf watched her go and... wait, what was he doing?! He couldn't allow this! This woman destroyed his airship! The flying fortress of the great Emperor Pilaf! The rightful ruler of the world! ( _Now that Piccolo was out of the way_ ) He also thought to himself privately. How dare he let her walk away unpunished!

"Don't think this is over! You ruined my airship!"

Gine stopped walking.

"You think you can just walk in and take away what is rightfully mine, the ruler of the wor-"

Gine turned with her hand raised at him.

"You sided with that thing that killed my son." She said matter-of-factly.

"What?" Was all Pilaf said before Gine fired an energy blast at him, vaporizing him on the spot and the inside of the airship destroyed further in an explosion of hot metal and dirt. Bulma and the other now two surviving Pilaf Gang members shielded themselves until the dust settled.

Mai and the fox starred at where their master once stood, now just a few traces of ash. Too shocked and horrified to react.

"M-m-m-mast-" Was all the fox could blabber out. They slowly turned to Gine, pure terror running through their minds.

Gine lowered her hand, and glanced at them. They shrank where they lay in the dirt.

"You worked with him, didn't you?" She asked.

Mai and the fox panicked, clutching each other in fear and bowing at her feet.

Gine didn't know what to make of them, either as faithful followers or coerced slaves of the now deceased-Pilaf. But she had been through too much today already to care, and all she wanted was to summon the dragon to see if all of this was worthwhile or not. So she cleared her throat to get them to stop babbling and listen to what she had to say.

"Go. And pray that I never see either of you two ever again." Gine said to them, then turned away towards Bulma who looked just as shocked as they were. She walked for a bit, then stopped.

"I suggest you start running now unless you want to join your master." She called back to the two.

Mai and the fox got the hint and ran like demons were chasing them, clamoring their way over the debris and out of the wreckage of the airship. Once they were outside, they kept running and didn't look back.

Gine turned to Bulma, "Come on, let's get back and summon the dragon." She pointed in the general direction they came from, clutching the backpack and her wounded abdomen.

Bulma just nodded, "Right." She said eventually. "And let's get you patched up too! You look like hell, girl!"

Gine gave Bulma a look, "Stop calling me that, okay?" She said, too emotionally raw to let annoying things slide.

"Sorry." Bulma gulped. "Anyway, lets get going!" She said as Gine picked up Bulma and flew out of the wreckage back to the gang.

* * *

Meanwhile, the two surviving members of the Pilaf Gang had both finally ran out of breath before they realized they had put several miles between themselves and what was left of the airship.

Even after catching their breaths they didn't speak for a long time. Too shocked at seeing their master killed, and barely escaping with their lives at the hands of a woman who single-handedly beat King Piccolo.

"Mai..." Shu broke the silence. "What... what the hell just happened?"

"I don't know...but... Lord Pilaf is... dead." She said, struggling to articulate the words.

Shu tried to digest this too. "Master Pilaf...dead." He echoed, trying to come to grips with this new reality.

They both stood their in silence for a very long time...

Then broke out into cheers, chanting "WE'RE FREE!"

* * *

 **A/N: So there we go! The first big baddy fought and defeated! And or those who ARE curious about Gine's power level, it's approximately 650 by now.**

 **Thank you all so much for your patience and I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Up next, Gine will get her first glimpse of the Eternal Dragon Shenron, which will surely stun her with so much awe and wonder. And wonder she might... about certain possibilities she might ask of a wish-granting dragon. Stuff which I don't think was addressed in MasakoX's original series, but we can here!**

 **Tune in for the next exciting episode of Dragon Ball Gine!**

 **See you then!**


	15. CHAPTER 14: THE ETERNAL DRAGON

****Hello again and Happy New Year! Sorry it's taken me awhile. But anywho, back at the story since a lot has happened, how will Piccolo being dealt with affect this timeline? Lets find out.****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 14: THE ETERNAL DRAGON

Gine touched down in front of the group with Bulma clinging on to her.

"Bulma! You okay?!" Yamcha asked almost hysterically as he swept the blue-haired girl up in a tight embrace.

"Yeah, I'm alright." She replied, shaken but more or less unhurt.

Yamcha looked at Gine. "Thank you for saving her." He said, unable to contain his relief.

Gine only nodded, her mind too preoccupied with anger. Anger at that little blue creature she just offed, at that monster Piccolo himself... and at herself for the whole debacle of a fight...

"Gine?" Bulma asked, snapping Gine out of her head.

"Sorry." Gine said, shaking her head to clear her thoughts. There was no use making herself more upset over everything now, she had to go about checking everyone wounded after the battle.

Chi-chi got attention first for being the youngest one shot, but it turned out the two bullets went through her leg without hitting any major arteries or bone. As resilient as the young girl was she still balled her eyes out.

"No princess should ever be treated like this!" Chi-chi said between cries as Launch tightened her bandages. "I'm too young to get shot!"

"Just be glad ya ain't got your head blown off." Launch muttered, which left the poor little girl mortified into silence.

Gohan needed his arm sutered and stitched from protecting his master's mortal remains, but was overall fine. Everyone else got scrapes and cuts from dodging the hail of gunfire.

"Who else is hurt?" Gine asked to double check.

"How about you?!" Gohan said, pointing towards Gine's torso. Gine looked down and remembered the two bleeding holes Piccolo burned into her abdomen. At the site of the blood soaking through her gi, the pain made it's return too.

"I'm fine." She said offhanded, unconsciously clutching herself from the pain she ignored.

"Like hell you are!" Launch said, "You're as tough as nails but ain't indestructible!"

Gohan nodded, "Launch is right, let's get you patched up."

"I said I'm fine!" Gine protested. "I've had worse than this."

Gohan waved his torn arm, "That doesn't mean we should leave you to bleed out." He said as he went about wrapping her midriff in gauze.

"I deserve it, anyways." Gine said flatly, shocking Gohan enough to look up at her.

"Utter nonsense, dear. What does that even mean?" He asked incredulously.

"It's all my fault." She said through a lump forming in her throat.

"My son is dead." Gine whispered, "I sensed it myself before finding the last dragonball that something had killed him. And I let Piccolo get the better of me with that knowledge. And your Master had to sacrifice himself to fix my mistake of not finishing Piccolo sooner...and for not stopping Kakarot from running on his own to face something I never imagined would best him on this planet...and he was all I had left..." She said, choking between words and on the bring of sobbing.

"Gine, look at me." Gohan said, holding her face with his bandaged hands to face him. "Nothing is your fault here." He said firmly.

Gine blinked the tears away as Gohan went on, "Piccolo was a master deceiver, and could shatter the wills of any man. He even defeated the greatest martial artist of this planet's history, so you are not at all to blame if he knew how to take advantage of your worries as a mother."

Gine didn't like how he'd left that last statement end without mention of her son's fate, but nodded to appreciate that Piccolo indeed knew how to hit where it hurts.

"But what's more important is that Piccolo has been defeated." Gohan said with emphasis, clutching the rice cooker containing the demon king.

"He's gone." Bulma was the first to speak, as everyone had remained quiet during this delicate moment for Gine.

"You're right!" Tien said, the reality of what they had achieved sinking in at last.

The Demon King Piccolo had been sealed away for good... They didn't jump in joy, but a wave of happiness swept through them all.

"And you did it!" Tien said to Gine in congratulations.

Gine was in no mood to celebrate, eyeing Roshi laying motionless on the ground.

Gohan saw it too, and immediately turned somber. "We're not done yet!" He said aloud to everyone.

They all stopped for moment, confused. "We need to bring everyone back." Gohan said, gesturing towards Roshi's body.

Gohan then turned back to Gine, "Also what's important..." He said, Gine turned to him too but caught her breath as the realization hit her just as Gohan pointed it out.

"That if Kakarot is dead, we can bring him back with the dragonballs!"

"Oh, right!" The whole gang exclaimed. Bulma rushed to get out her backpack with all the dragonballs and the capsule containing Krillin.

Gine at that moment had no idea how to feel. Her son, his best friend, and her dearest friend's master was dead, but now they were about to bring them back to life. Even though Kakarot had told her that this wish-granting dragon had the power of resurrecting the dead, and that her son was as honest and truthful as any living thing could be, this whole situation was still far too surreal to take in as real. Back on Planet Vegeta they'd have declared her insane if she ever told them that such things were here in this forgotten corner of this galaxy.

So she watched with numb interest as the gang got everything ready. Roshi's body was laid out in front of them and Krillin's freezer capsule was opened beside his master. Then, behind the deceased, Bulma placed all the dragonballs on the ground and closely packed them together. The balls were eerily glowing before, now Gine saw that they were pulsating with some kind of ethereal life in them, as if beconing to her.

They all stood ready. "Okay, Bulma, go ahead and summon the dragon." Said Gohan.

Gine stepped back, whatever she believed of this wish granting dragon from Kakarot's tales, she was about to find out if those things were true or not.

Bulma nodded, then turned to the dragonballs and held out her opened hands to them.

"ETERNAL DRAGON, BY YOUR NAME WE SUMMON YOU FORTH: SHENRON!"

The sky suddenly went dark, catching Gine's attention, like the sun just went out and the black curtain of night fell upon them from nowhere.

The dragonballs shined even brighter and brighter, until they were too brilliant to look at directly. Then, a bolt of lightning struck the dragonballs in a flash of energy that made Gine shield her eyes, and out sprung forth a gargantuan stream of light that twisted and twirled around itself, as if the entire sky was being painted upon by a brush made of the most beautiful sunlight Gine had ever seen. At the tip of the brush of light arcing its way above them, Gine saw it was the long head of some reptilian creature.

Finally, when the twirl of light had stopped moving in the center of the twirls on itself, the glowing stream faded to green scales.

Gine's jaw dropped. She had never seen any monster or alien so gigantic and mystifying as what she was seeing now. Not even the mightiest Oozarus came close. This was indeed a dragon that had a very long body that twisted upon itself like a coil of rope that filled the heavens, and tiny clawed arms near its head of horns and feelers, while it's tail ended in the impossibly radiant glow of the orbs this thing emerged from. Gohan, Tien, and Chiaotzu, who had never seen the dragon before either, shrank back in awe and horror too.

It starred at them with glowing red eyes. Gine felt their gaze as if they held all the knowledge and power the universe in them, and it made her feel very small in that moment.

 ** _"I AM THE ETERNAL DRAGON. SPEAK YOUR WISH AND I SHALL GRANT IT."_** The dragon spoke, it's voice thundered all across the valley, as if the very planet they stood upon had called to them.

"Oh mighty Shenron, a monster by the name of King Piccolo had broken free from his confinement and killed many people across the world recently! Some of whom were our very dear friends here: Krillin and Master Roshi. Another went by the name of Son Kakarot, slain by Piccolo himself but we do not know where..." Bulma added, almost stopping to cry as she said it.

"We graciously ask if you could bring them all back to life!" Bulma pleaded.

Shenron looked over the deceased, growling in contemplation that sounded more like an earthquake.

 _ **"I CAN RESURRECT YOUR FRIENDS, BUT THERE IS ONE THING THAT WILL BE UNNECESSARY."**_

"Huh? What do you mean?" Bulma asked.

 ** _"THE ONE CALLED SON KAKAROT IS STILL ALIVE."_**

"WHAT?!" Everyone exclaimed.

Gine didn't hear what he said at first, then her heart dropped.

"HE'S ALIVE!" Chi-chi estatically cheered, everyone followed suit. But Gohan broke it up.

"As happy as that news is, there is still work to do!" He reminded.

Gine tried to listen, her mind a whirlwind from having her just recently-upended world rightened in such a short time, leaving just a roller coaster of emotions in her head.

"Right." Bulma said before she called up to the dragon again. "So, will you bring back our two friends here, as well as everyone killed by Piccolo and his minions?"

Shenron growled again before he spoke. _**"VERY WELL. I SHALL BRING YOUR FRIENDS AND ALL WHO WERE SLAIN BY PICCOLO BACK TO LIFE."**_

They all broke out into cheers as Shenron's red eyes flashed for an instant, then a bright light encompassed the bodies of both Krillin and Master Roshi.

The light faded, and Krillin's freezer capsule opened as he suddenly sat up straight.

"Ah, zombie!" Chiaotzu shouted.

"Wha? Zombie?" Krillin asked, then looked around. "Where...where am I?"

Roshi slowly got up too, "Oh dear, that wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." He said, chuckling to himself.

"Welcome back, guys!" Bulma greeted them ecstatically. The sight of seeing the dead walk again was so unreal to Gine that she almost fainted.

 ** _"YOUR WISH HAS BEEN GRANTED. FAREWELL."_** Shenron boomed as the same gold light that brought him forth had enshrouded him again.

The dragonballs floated into the air around the Eternal Dragon as he curled into himself, becoming smaller and smaller until he and the balls disappeared into a single crackling sparkle of light in the sky. Then seven beams shot out in every direction as the collected dragonballs dissipated. In a matter of moments, they were out of sight over the horizon as the sky turned daylight blue again.

"So that's it..." Gine said to herself, observing Krillin and Roshi get reacquainted with everyone.

"I was dead?!" Krillin said disbelievingly.

"Hard to believe, huh!" Oolong chuckled.

"An ancient demon named Piccolo came back to life and one of his minions killed you back at the touranament. Do you remember anything?" Yamcha asked.

"Just, fighting a green monster with wings. He kicked me in the head and then..." He trailed off, the moment he died gone from his memory. "And then feeling like I was in a dream, surrounded by darkness until I was floating in some orange clouds... And then suddenly I'm back here!"

"Hm, I saw nothing. Was more like a dreamless sleep." Said Roshi. "Made everything leading up to it seem horrible."

"Well, it's good to have you back." Tien and Chaiotzu shook their master's and Krillin's hand.

"And I bet there's a lot of happy people right now too!" Bulma said with a great sense of accomplishment.

"Wait, what happened anyway?" Krillin asked incredulously.

They all looked at each other, and Roshi said. "Krillin, it's a long story..."

Gine just stood there as the Gang filled Krillin in on everything that's happened. Gohan tried to shake her out of it.

"He's alive..." She said quietly, as if relieved but not too sure yet. "We'll have to scour the whole planet to find him."

Gohan looked up at the sky and smiled. "Maybe we won't have to search for him afterall!" He said as he pointed up.

"MOM!"

She knew that voice anywhere. Gine turned so fast she almost toppled over, and her heart burst with joy. Coming towards them, was the distincting yellow contrail of the Nimbus cloud.

"MOM! You're okay!" Kakarot called out as he jumped off the cloud and fell towards his mother.

"KAKAROT!" Gine cried back as she caught him. It was a mix of laughter and crying from both of them, a mess of Saiyan tails and hair as Gine dared not let her son go.

"DON'T YOU EVER SCARE ME LIKE THAT AGAIN!" Gine practically screamed.

"It's okay, Mom. I'm still here!" He replied as cheerfully as ever.

She was infuriated by his happy-go-lucky attitude in the face of her thinking that he was dead and nearly doomed Earth. But what he said was true, and her anger dissipated into elation that her son was indeed alive and safe in her arms.

"Where were you?! I was worried sick." She asked as she finally calmed down.

"I tried to track down that winged monster that killed Krillin, but he destroyed the Nimbus cloud and I fell into a forest where I came across a guy named Yajirobe. He killed another monster that came after me and gave me his dragonball. But then King Piccolo showed up. I fought him but he was way too strong. I almost died against him, and he took my dragonballs. But Yajirobe saved me by getting me to Korin's tower to get a drink of the Divine Water that replenished my power and got a new Flying Nimbus...and then found you after seeing Shenron summoned!" He said rapid-fire.

Gine looked at him dumbfounded. Even after hearing more amazing tales of Kakarot's adventures before, that was a lot to take in. "Wait, can you tell me all that again?"

"That is quite a tale, Kakarot. You actually fought Piccolo too?" Gohan asked.

Kakarot looked over at his grandpa as Gine set him back down, "Yeah, he was strong, stronger than anyone I've ever fought! And he was going to conquer the world or something."

Gohan, chuckled. "We know, we ran into him."

Kakarot gasped in amazement. "YOU fought him?"

Gohan chuckled again, shaking his head. "No, your mother did. AND beat him too."

Kakarot starred up at his mother in even more awe. "You BEAT Piccolo, Mom?!"

She scratched the back of her head sheepishly the way her son did. "Well, not really beat him but... Master Roshi sealed him away in a container."

"Huh?" Kakarot asked. They pointed to the rice cooker that Gohan held onto.

"KAKAROT!" Chi-chi suddenly screeched as she ran to him and hugged him in a death grip. He hugged her back too while everyone else gathered around them, all too happy to see him again.

"It's good to see you all made it!" He said to them before he noticed Krillin standing with them too.

Kakarot's eyes swelled up in tears, "KRILLIN!"

He ran to his best friend and picked him up in a swooping hug the way his mother did to him just moments ago, so overjoyed. Krillin hugged back tightly and they laughed together.

"Krillin...you're alive!" Kakarot said jubilantly as he released his friend.

"I am! I thought I was a goner for good. But... you all brought me back." The little bald boy said as he looked around his gathered friends. Emotions ran through him. "You all... did this for me?"

"Well, we wouldn't have been able to pull it off without Gine." Yamcha said warmly, as he looked up at her.

"Yeah, she lead us to get the dragonballs and fight the monsters that threathened the world." Tien added.

"Wha?" Krillan and Kakarot were amazed, and starred back at the former's mother.

"You lead them to the dragonballs AND fought King Piccolo?" Her son said with such astonishment as if he had seen a miracle.

Gine shifted uncomfortably, "Well, I... wouldn't have been able to do it without all of you guys. You all saved the world, not me." She said, defeatedly.

"Nah, don't be so humble on yourself." Bulma tried to cheer her up. "You kicked King Piccolo's ass around like he was nothing!" She said, punching around herself at air.

"Yeah!" Echoed Launch, "You handled him like he was a sad sack of potatuh's!"

Gine chuckled at that, looking at the ground in a half smirk/half grimace. "I guess I did... but..." She looked over at Tien and Chiaotzu, "Thank you for pulling me out of there when he had me pinned down, Tien. And Chiaotzu for stopping Piccolo. I owe you my life for that."

Tien chuckled. "Aw it was nothing, and it was all Chiaotzu's idea, thinking about the tournament that gave him some inspiration." He said as he placed his hands on Chiaotzu's shoulders.

Gine smiled at them, astonished that these two went from ruthless cronies after her blood to brave companions that had her back in a couple days. She figured that like the dragonballs, anything was possible on Earth.

She then nodded at Roshi and Gohan. "And of course, thank you for what you did..." She said, unable to finish.

"Think nothing of it, dear. You united us to fight this threat together and we did. You are actually quite a leader, Gine." Roshi said, smiling gently.

Gine looked at him surprised. "I am?"

"Absolutely! If anything, I should be the one to apologize for not trusting you entirely before. You saved an entire village and countless others from Piccolo's minions, and fought him yourself. And with YOUR foresight to rally us together as a team, we all did our part to take down Piccolo. That was all from your leadership. You should be proud of that, we all are."

"Really?" Gine said doubtfully.

"Yes!" Gohan affirmed, everyone else nodded in agreement. "You got us to stick together and deal with a problem with actual teamwork. If we hadn't, Piccolo may have succeeded or destroyed us if we remained divided. It was YOUR actions that saved the world, Gine. Don't underestimate what you had just accomplished here today."

"Yeah! We stand behind you no matter what!" Puar added, "That's right!" Oolong too.

Gine looked down, both touched by and unable to accept this praise. So she nodded politely, "Thank you, all of you."

"Then I suggest a little celebration is in order!" Bulma declared.

"Wait!" Roshi suddenly said, holding up his hand. "We aren't quite done yet, we still need to make sure no one ever finds this rice cooker ever again." He said, pointing towards the jar in question that Gohan still held onto for dear life.

"Oh, right!" They all almost forgot. Bulma walked up to it and pressed a button. A moment later it shrank down into a pill-sized capsule in Gohan's hand.

"At least he's easier to carry now." Gohan quipped, weighing the tiny thing in his hands. Then he gave it to Bulma who slipped it into one of her capsule containers.

"There, now no one would ever suspect of where he'd be hidden now, would they?" She said happily, boasting her genius.

Roshi looked doubtful. "Hm, not entirely unreachable though."

"True, but who'd think to look in your pocket than the bottom of the sea?" Bulma said.

"We'll have to still think hard about this, we have to be absolutely sure that we stick it somewhere that NO ONE can find it." Roshi stressed.

"We will, Master." Tien nodded.

"But first, let's celebrate a little. We at least deserve that much after saving the world! Not to mention patching ourselves up a little too!" Bulma persisted, gesturing to all of them. "And a change of clothes, too!"

They all looked at each other and realized their disheveled, and banged up state. Most of their clothes torn to shreds and bodies bandaged from the firefight with Pilaf's airship, and Gine more so from the battle with Piccolo.

"Fair enough." Roshi waved soothingly. "Let's head back to the island then."

"Now we are talking!" Launch pumped her fist into the air, already a beer in hand. As the gang piled back into the Capsule Corp. jet, they all wondered if she got it from the same place where she gets her guns.

* * *

They flew back to Roshi's island to set up the house again. With that done and a change of clothes and shower for everyone, they turned on the television just in time to see news reports of previously murdered martial artists mysteriously coming back from the dead. But after a while the news moved on to other less important things. No mention of Piccolo or his minions, and no looming threat of world domination hinted anywhere.

The wish worked. With Piccolo sealed away and his cruelty visited upon his victims undone, they had truly confirmed that the world was saved. And their deeds will never be known outside of this circle of friends.

So they celebrated. Bulma pulled out a fridge capsule and tossed out can after can of beer to every one. Kakarot held his like he had never seen it.

"What's this?" He asked.

"It's beer." Yamcha said.

"But... did you guys say I'm too young to have this for some reason?" He asked, confused.

"Yeah, well, today is a special exception, buddy." Bulma said, then cleared her throat and held her drink up in Gine's direction.

"To Gine!" Bulma toasted. "TO GINE!" They all followed.

Gine held the beer for a moment, "Thank you." She said quietly before she drank. She nearly gagged at the horrible taste, but went along with it.

Then the gang drank and started talking merrily among themselves, with Kakarot recounting his tale of how he pursued Tambourine while Launch was engaged in a drinking game with Oolong. Gohan sipped his beer and laughed with everyone. Gine never figured him to drink alcohol, but today was a celebratory exception for him too she figured.

Gine took in the sight of all of them together, laughing and chatting. The image reminded her of times-gone-by when Saiyan crews rested and relaxed after returning from their missions, sharing their stories of triumph and friendships forged in fires she could only imagine. For she had never experienced such an occasion, at least one where she was neither left out or hazed. Here, she was actually welcomed and cheered as one of them. And, for a moment, she was happy.

 _Mostly_ happy. Sure, everything worked out and that everyone is here to live and tell the tale. Her adopted home world had been saved, but no thanks to her, she told herself.

Gine zoned out, the party fading into just background noise as she looked down at her feet.

She didn't deserve any credit for this, _they_ saved her with acts of selflessness and defeated piccolo when she couldn't.

It reminded her too much of even more back-in-the-days of having her life saved far too many times to keep track of by her comrades, only to be ridiculed afterwards. Just like then, it was time for her to step up, and she failed and left it up to them. But here they were, singing songs of a job well done and appraising her as their savior and greatest champion.

This was a comradery that she had never known, and she didn't earn it. She couldn't bring herself to enjoy it.

Without anyone noticing, Gine turned around and retreated into the kitchen. She leaned onto the counter, holding herself up and trying to hold back her tears.

"Something wrong, my dear?" Came Gohan's voice from behind her. She looked back at him, and sheepishly tried to wipe away the streaks on her face.

"No, just..." She said between sniffles, "Needed some alone time."

Gohan looked at her sympathetically and concerned. "Make's you feel uncomfortable? Like you don't deserve this?"

Gine nodded slowly. She guessed he already figured she would react like this.

"Don't worry my dear. You actually do. You banded our friends together and saved our planet from it's greatest threat. Even if you feel like you made mistakes while doing so, you had the foresight to do it with us a team, and that should be worth something."

"I know, I know, but..." Gine tired to acknowledge that that part was true when it came to banding together for strength in numbers, but she couldn't let go of her mistake.

"I still let him get in my head and loose my guard. If Chiaotzu, Tien, and Roshi had not intervened...if it did not had require Roshi to sacrifice himself..." Gine said, unable to finish without her eyes watering again. _Stop crying, damnit!_ She mentally scolded herself.

"That doesn't matter anymore, Gine." Gohan said, walking over to her and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder and looking her in the eye. "Like I said, Piccolo was a cunning opponent. And you were right about us sticking together to deal with this problem. We all worked as a team like you wanted, and we acted as a team when you need us most, and because of that the world is rid of it's greatest threat once more."

"But still... I got too complicit." She said finally.

"Huh?" Asked Gohan.

"I always thought I'd never have to get into a fight for my own life again ever since we landed here on Earth. But I was wrong. And even then I thought I was the strongest on the planet, but I couldn't even beat some decrepit old Namekian. The one time I had to step up and defend the only home I've ever known and I failed... even amongst you humans, I'm a useless fighter like I always was." She said, sadly looking out the window into the distance.

"That has nothing to do with your self-worth, Gine. By all rights you should never have had to fight someone on this planet as strong as you in the first place."

"That's the problem though." She said seriously. "I was so happy here, that I never wanted to face the reality that everything we had here could be destroyed. And as unlikely as you hoped it would be, Piccolo emerged and nearly killed my own son, then me, and put all of you at risk."

Gohan said nothing, listening intently.

"When I had to stand up and defend my new home and everything I held dear, I wasn't ready for what could happen. Piccolo was right that my emotions had gotten the better of me. It may be easy for you to say that I need to keep my mind calm when we are isolated in the woods, sparring. But a life-or-death battle against some world-ending monstrosity that could undo all of my hard work, then none of my anger will be able to help me. So if I couldn't beat Piccolo if he came out of nowhere, what if something worse, or even Frieza, came along and threatened my world again? What then?" She asked, letting that question hang.

"You worry too much. Frieza will never find you here, and now that we know about that weakness of yours, we can always explore more ways to not let your enemies get under your skin. It may be difficult but not impossible. And besides... when all else fails, we have the dragonballs to grant us any wish we want, I think such a problem we couldn't fix ourselves, could be fixed with those." Gohan reassured.

Gine chewed over Gohan's words for a moment. "Yeah...I mean, for something to grant you ANYTHING...I guess you're right."

The elder martial artist smiled at her, "You can rest easy dear, you and your son, all of us, are safe now." He said as he hugged her. Gine returned it appreciatively, even though Gohan was far weaker than her, she somehow felt that no matter how difficult things got, he was there to guide her. For that, and for everything he did for them since their arrival, he had become the father figure that could fix anything that the dragonballs couldn't.

"Just let me know when you are ready and we'll head home." Gohan said as he let go.

Gine sighed almost heavenly. "I would really much like that."

Gohan chuckled. "Been quite a crazy adventure, hasn't it?"

"No kidding." Gine said humorlessly. "From a dramatic tournament that turned into a crisis, a global scavenger hunt, a debauched battle for the Earth's fate, and a magic wish-granting dragon bringing people back from the dead... I think I'd like some quiet time for a while." She said, mulling over the emotionally-draining events of the past few days.

But then with those memories, Shenron and the dragonballs came back to her attention. And it reawakened some questions she had long ago dared not hope to ask herself until she saw the living proof of what the Eternal Dragon could do. She realized that now there was no doubt at all that it could bring the dead back to life.

And since that is possible, could...could she bring-

A knock came at the front door, forcing Gine to put an end to that train of thought for now.

"I'll get it." Gine said as she walked over and opened it.

"Oh. Uh, hi." Said a short, pudgy man at the door. He was shorter than Gine by a few inches, clad in an orange sleeveless yukata, straw sandals, and had untidy long hair. She also noticed the katana strapped to his side and the air speeder he flew here in. He also looked surprised to see her.

"Can I help you?" Gine asked.

"Uh, yeah, I'm looking for a kid named Kakarot." He said.

"You know my son?"

Now the stranger was really surprised. "Wait, you're his mom?" He said, pointing at her.

"Yeah, I'm-"

"YAJIROBE!" Came Kakarot's voice calling from behind her, he skidded past her and stopped in front of the stranger.

"Hey, kid! Glad to see you made it!" He said. "Was worried about you after seeing Korin. What happened?"

"Oh it's a long story, but my Mom here defeated Piccolo before I could find him!" Her son said, gesturing to his mother.

The stranger named Yajirobe looked back at her stunned. "YOU beat King Piccolo?!"

Gine sighed, she really wished everyone would stop focusing on her feats. "Yeah, I did, sort of."

"Sort of?" Yajirobe asked.

"She's just being modest." Gohan said as he walked up beside them at the door, Gine shot him a look. "It was a team effort from all of us here, but Gine here lead us to victory and we sealed Piccolo away forever." He said, patting her on the back reassuringly.

 _Don't undermine what you accomplished, Gine. Because of you leading our team, the world is saved._ Came Gohan's telepathic voice in her mind. Gine didn't feel like arguing further so she just nodded.

"Oh, I see." Said Yajirobe, then he was confused. "Wait, sealed away, how?"

"We placed him in a capsule so he can never get out! But we don't know where to keep it." Gohan continued, patting his pocket to pull out where he held the captive demon king.

Yajirobe starred at the capsule Gohan presented like it was the weirdest thing he had ever seen. "Huh...well, that's great I guess, if it means he's not a threat anymore."

"He isn't, at least until we can bury this or something other."

Yajirobe looked back up at Gine. "In that case, I should give you the message from Korin."

"A message from Korin?" Kakarot asked.

"Yeah, Korin wanted me to tell you that he would like to see you if you beat Piccolo." He said, then turned to Gine. "But since your mom did him in, and Piccolo is in that thing..." He said, pointing to the capsule. "...I guess you should go see him instead."

Gine perked an eyebrow. "What for?"

"I think it was for some kind of special training or somethin'."

Kakarot immediately jumped up in excitement. "REALLY?! MOM GETS SPECIAL TRAINING?!"

"Wait, what? Why me?" Gine asked increduluously.

"I dunno, he just told me to tell you that. So you'll have to ask him." Yajirobe said, shrugging his wide shoulders.

"CAN I COME TOO?! I WANT TO LEARN EVERYTHING MOM KNOWS AND FROM KORIN!" Kakarot said, unable to contain himself.

"Whoa, settle down kid! I'm just a messenger, you should ask him first if you wanna-" Yajirobe got out shortly before Kakarot rushed out the door past him.

"NIMBUS!" Kakarot called out into the sky.

"Kakarot, wait-" Gine tried to get her son to slow down.

"What?" He asked innocently.

"I don't-" She tried to say. "We can't just leave right now."

"Why not?!" Kakakrot asked, horrified.

"Because..." She tried to think of how to explain she just wanted to go home. That the past few days had tested her to the breaking point and that she just wanted to go back to the solitude of Paozu.

But before she could, The yellow cloud of Nimbus appeared before them and Kakarot already jumped on.

"Come on, let's go Mom! Please?!" He asked as hard as he could.

Gine just stood there, at a loss. There was nothing more in the world she wanted less than another adventure right now, but... after nearly loosing her son, how could she say no to him?

She let out her breath through her nose.

"Say bye to your friends first." Gine said, exasperated.

"OKAY!" He said estactic, then ran back into Kame House.

Gine followed in after him and said their round of goodbyes, and he retrieving his Power Pole too. Gine hoped that this little trip won't take too long, and she was going to make sure that they went home afterwards, but she didn't make any promises yet.

"Keep in touch, okay?" Bulma asked.

"Yeah!" Everyone vowed, "You are one of us for sure Gine, and we really want to see you again." Yamcha added, holding Bulma close.

Gine smiled sincerely. "Thank you, and I definitely will see you all again soon."

"Until next time." Tien said as he shook her hand, then by Chiaotzu.

Krillin hugged Gine for a very long moment, "Thank you for saving my life." He said to her. Gine's heart felt so warm at that.

"Good luck to you, Gine." Roshi said, shaking her hand. "You too, Master Roshi." She said back.

"You have more potential than you realize, never forget that." Roshi said meaningfully before he stepped back into the house. Gine wondered by what he meant, but didn't think too deeply into it as Gohan was the last to say goodbye.

"I'll see you back at home eventually, then?" Gohan asked, smiling sympathetically.

Gine nodded defeatedly. "Hopefully soon."

Gohan chuckled, "You'll be fine."

She turned to leave, just as Kakarot had just escaped the clutches of Chi-Chi's power hug. She even planted a kiss on his cheek, leaving her son baffled for but a moment.

"Come back to me soon, okay?" She pleaded. "I can't stand to nearly loose you again."

"Don't worry, Chi-chi. We'll see each other again soon." He said sincerely to her.

The two looked at each other for a long time before both Gine and Kakarot mounted the Flying Nimbus together.

"Alright, Nimbus, take us to Korin's place!" He ordered the cloud.

"WAIT!" Gohan called out, running up to them and stopping them from taking off.

"Don't forget this!" Gohan handed Gine the capsule that contained the rice cooker. She held it in her hands with great tenderness and an urge to crush it in her grip. She'd like to, considering everything that the captive within had done to her, but something within her kept her from doing so, so she just pocketed it.

"Thanks." She said to Gohan before he backed away.

"Alright!" Kakarot continued again. "Let's go again Nimbus! To Korin's Tower!"

In the next moment, the tiny island of Kame House fell away as the magic cloud rocketed in a long golden arch across the sky. Gine sat back and let her mind wonder as the view gave way to sea in every direction, and mother and son rocketed towards this 'Korin'.

* * *

 **There we go! Now off to see Korin and Kami in the next chapter. What will they have in store for Kakarot and Gine?**

 **Find out next time!**


	16. CHAPTER 15: THE TEMPLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS

****Hello, hello, and hello! Welcome back to another chapter, this time Gine is off to see the Big Man of planet Earth. What will she and Kakarot learn from Korin and Kami?****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 15: THE TEMPLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS

"I can't wait to learn everything you have to teach me, Mom!" Kakarot said eagerly for the umpteenth time as they flew across the land towards Korin.

Gine just sighed, "I know, sweetie." She said, unable to share her son's enthusiasm. But unable to squash it either.

He really looked up to her as something far more than she was after the battle with Piccolo. But she didn't deserve his reverence, she had to be bailed out by her friends. She had messed up the one thing she had to do and they risked their lives to save her, and yet infuriatingly they did not fault her for it at all. They truly were the best battle companions that any Saiyan could dream of having, people who had your back no matter what. Though by all rights they should have shunned her for all she was worth being such a screw up like regular Saiyans would.

The Earthlings were far too kind for her. They should be the one's to receive whatever rewards this Korin had, not her.

But she couldn't do anything about it now, and just ran her fingers through her son's mess of jet-black hair. She saviored the feel that her son was indeed alive and in front of her, smiling and breathing. Still reiling from the fact that just a few hours ago she thought he was dead.

So she let her mind wonder, her thoughts drowned in the sound of the wind rushing by and enjoying her son's company.

"There's Korin's tower!" Kakarot yelled, pointing straight ahead.

Gine followed his gaze and saw far in the distance, a vertical line in the sky? No, it was a pillar of some sort, made of white stone. It rose from deep in the forest below and kept going up, and up, and up...

And up they went too as the Nimbus cloud pitched upwards and circled the ivory column that stretched to the heavens.

"This is Korin's tower?" Gine asked her son.

"It's up at the top! You'll see." He answered back.

Gine didn't know what to expect. Kakarot had SO many experiences the last few years and it was getting difficult to keep track of every little detail of his travels and the people he met. She had _some_ recollection of his tales of Korin, that he was the strongest martial artist alive on this planet. Though with that title in Gine's hands now, she didn't know what he wanted to say or even offer to them. That, and he was supposedly a talking cat. Gine wasn't sure what to make of that, it couldn't literally be a cat that was some world-renowned martial arts teacher...

Finally, up above that appeared as a dot, turned into a circular cupola that marked the very top of the ivory tower. A few moments later, the Nimbus cloud leveled off just at the lip of the cupola's guard rail where they both hoped off into the circular room inside.

And standing there as if waiting for them, was a abnormally large cat standing upright on hindlegs and carrying a staff.

 _Huh_ , Gine thought. So Kakarot wasn't exaggerating afterall.

Gine cocked her head, "This is the most powerful martial artist on the planet?" She asked incredulously.

"Nah, that title goes to someone else." The cat spoke.

Gine was taken aback. A talking cat. Now _this_ was weird, and she thought knowing people like Puar or Oolong would prepare her for this.

"Hey Korin! Yajirobe gave us your message that you wanted to give us special training for defeating Picco-"

Korin waved his paw, "Slow down kiddo, I already know." He set his paw back down and gave them both a look, as if looking them over.

"Indeed I did want to grant you further training as a reward for what you, or should I say: your mother here, has done in defeating Piccolo. Unfortunately, the both of ya are too strong for me to know what to do with. So if ya wanna get some actual training, you're gonna have to speak to the man upstairs so to speak."

"Uh, the man upstairs?" Kakarot asked, confused.

"Yep." Korin said, pointing a finger straight up. "Way up above this tower is a place that houses the most power being on this planet. The one who sees everything and keeps an eye over all of the Earth's inhabitants."

Kakarot listened quietly as Korin continued. "And his name is Kami... the Guardian of the Earth."

Gine tried not to laugh. She had heard about stories of Guardians back on their home planet, how they acted as the overseers and protectors of the planets they inhabited. But they were just that: tall tales. Did he honestly believe that Guardians were real?

Korin gave her a sour look. "Yes, as a matter of fact they do, Gine."

Gine recoiled in shock, this cat could read her mind?!

Korin turned back to Kakarot. "Anyways, if you wanna seek further training, he'd be the one to talk to."

"That's great!" Kakarot jumped up and down, giggling. "I'm so excited! So we just fly up to where he's at then?"

"Oh no, it ain't that simple." Korin objected. "The temple that Kami lives at is very high above here. Your Nimbus Cloud won't be able to reach it, and most people who try to fly up there usually get sent back down by Kami's influence. He doesn't like to be disturbed."

"So, how do we get there then?" Kakarot asked.

Korin pointed towards the Power Pole still strapped to Kakarot's back. "That magic staff you got. It's used for more than just beatin' people up ya know. That staff was originally what connected this tower with the Lookout."

"The Lookout?" Kakarot and Gine repeated that word as if learning it for the first time.

"Yeah, Kami's Lookout is what it's called. But the Power Pole was what connected Kami to the rest of the planet. When your Master Roshi trained with me last time all those years ago, I gave the staff to him as gift since he was the only one I thought was qualified enough to wield it, and didn't think I'd see it again. But you two proved me wrong, so you should feel honored. No one ever gets to meet Kami in person, let alone get training from him."

"Wow. This is amazing, isn't it Mom?" Kakarot asked her. Gine just nodded, going along with it.

"So what is Kami like? What kind of training does Kami do?" Kakarot asked, unable to contain himself.

"Let's just say he's someone who may seem very familiar." Korin snickered slyly in a way Gine didn't like.

Kakarot looked confused. "Huh? What do you mean? Like it's someone I've meet before?"

"Don't worry, kid. All your questions will be answered once you see him." Korin went on, "So, are you two ready to go see him now?"

"YES!" Kakarot answered for both of them and forgetting his questions.

"Alright then, climb to the top of the roof with me." Korin said, then he turned around and started literally walking straight up the pillars of the cupola wall outside. Gine shook her head as she floated outside to the rooftop while Kakarot half struggled to float/half climbed on the roof. They reached Korin who stood next to a small gold onion dome that marked the top of the tower.

"Ok, Kakarot. Place the staff into the slot here." Korin said, pointing to the recessed hole in the dome. "And then command the Pole to extend as far as it will go. Both of you hang onto it and do NOT let go until it comes into contact with the Lookout."

Kakarot inspected the slot and slid the Power Pole into, locking firmly into place. "Okay!"

"Once you are up there..." Korin continued, holding out a small cat bell. "Present this bell to Kami to show that you have my blessing to see him. And the rest will follow."

Kakarot took the bell, inspecting it curiously before tying it to his belt. "Thank's a lot Korin!" Her son turned to her, "Alright Mom, well let's go!" He asked, grabbing the Power Pole.

Gine had to ask though, "How come I have to hang on too? I can fly just fine."

"Like I said, it's impossible to fly directly to the Lookout. And there may be obstacles in the way that only hanging on to the Pole will allow you to pass."

"Hmph." Gine snorted. "Alright then." She said as they both grabbed the Pole with all hands.

"One more thing." Korin said and they both turned to him one more time.

"When you get there, just remember: Don't be fooled by what you see. Your eyes aren't playing tricks, and neither am I."

They both starred at him for a moment, taking in what he said. "Thanks", was all Gine could say. How much more ominous can this cat get?

"POWER POLE EXTEND!" Kakarot commanded. The Pole glowed red in their grasp and Korin's tower suddenly dropped away from their feet. Gine was slightly surprised by the acceleration and tightened her grip and wrapped her tail around the Pole too for good measure, Kakarot did the same.

"GOOD LUCK!" Korin called out from below, his voice fading as they receded from him faster and farther.

"I wonder what's gonna be up there!" Kakarot said over the rush of wind, grinning ear to ear in pure giddiness that made Gine's heart warm.

"Guess we'll find out together, sweetie." Gine said back. She looked back down and saw that Korin's tower had disappeared far below as the Pole took them higher and higher.

"Uh oh." She heard Kakarot say.

"What?" Gine looked up at him, seeing that he was looking ahead. She looked up too and felt the hairs stand up on her arms and head. For a very dark wall of clouds was rapidly approaching, and they could feel the electricity in the air as much as they could also hear the sound of thunder.

"Thunderstor-" Gine got out just before both she and her son were zapped by a lightning bolt. Her eyes nearly popped from their sockets and clenched their jaws as the current passed through them. Once the shock passed she realized she had let go of the Power Pole, and reached out desperately to grab hold again.

Kakarot had lost his grip too, and was dangling from his tail wrapped around the Pole.

"HANG ON SWEETIE!" She called out to him, and helped pull him up again. Only to be struck by another bolt. This time Gine was the one dangling from her tail, and struck again by yet another lightening strike. Why are they even subjugating themselves to this?! Gine thought through the pain.

After what seemed like an eternity of shocks, they broke through the layer of dark clouds into blue sky and sunlight again. Gine breathed a hard sigh of relief as she relaxed again.

"That was close!" Kakarot exclaimed as he rightened himself. They looked around and saw that the horizon had a noticeable curve, and the sky above them turning darker and darker as the upper atmosphere gave way to space; the mounatains and forests of Korin's region was tens of miles below them now. A sense of vertigo almost overtook the both of them. Even though they could both fly, neither of them had been this high off the ground before.

Kakarot looked up, hoping that they were getting closer, and smiled excitedly.

"Hey look, Mom! There it is!" He said pointing straight ahead.

Gine looked up and saw, what she initially thought for a frightening moment was a spacecraft in a shape and size that bore resemblance to Frieza's command ship just floating up in the sky. The momentary panic faded however when she noticed it wasn't his ship at all, but was actually a round cupola or platform not-unlike Korin's below them. Only this one was big. VERY big. Massive, even.

It filled their whole field of view above them despite how they were still a good distance from it, and Gine made out the very elegant details on it's surface. Rings upon rings of carvings in it's ivory exterior, slats that appeared to be... _windows?_ Gine wondered, and covered in velvet-like red and blue grooves and gold trimming made it seem very ancient. And from their vantage point directly below it made it look like a great eye watching over the Earth, an eye that knew all that was happening below and held untold secrets within it's gaze.

As they got closer, the Power Pole's expandsion began to slow as they approached it. And they both saw a tiny golden dome at the pointed bottom of the Lookout, exactly the same as the one that crowned Korin's tower. And like precision clockwork, the Power Pole slowed to a stop by sliding into the recessed slot of the Lookout's identical upside-down gold onion dome.

"We made it!" Said Kakarot. Then they held onto there just wondering.

"Well, what now?" Gine asked her son.

Kakarot looked around, "Ah-ha! Looks like we climb up now." He said, pointing to a ladder on his side that she had not noticed before.

He reached out and grabbed the rungs, and began climbing up the ladder on the wide round underside of the Lookout, almost a few hundred yards worth of climbing. Gine swung around the Power Pole and grabbed the ladder too, and began to pull herself up. Even though she could fly, she oddly didn't feel like trying to hover herself over such a dizzying height above the ground.

The climb didn't last long and it became vertical as they reached the top of the ladder, and clambered over the edge of the massive platform. Both of them were nearly blinded by the pure brightness and elegance of the white ground of the Lookout.

The whole floor was covered rim to rim with foot-by-foot square marble white tiles that were polished to almost mirror-like quality, and they all fitted together perfectly that made the grid of seams looked barely noticeable as if drawn by pencil. Four corners of the Lookout where there weren't tiles had instead green islands of lush grass and a row of five tall pine trees. And near the center of the grounds were also two parallel islands of grass and a mosaic of the most colorful and beautiful flowers Gine had ever seen, topped with a row of four palm trees. In the far center corner of the Lookout, stood a grand white structure with pink rounded roofs, topped with three gold domes, the center one being the tallest.

Gine felt awe strike her in a way that made her feel as if she had stepped into a place she didn't belong, a sanctuary that held great knowledge and significance that should not be trotted upon by her lowly footfalls. The bright and reflective white tiles she stood on made her feel like a muddy peasant trampling on holy ground.

It was also then that she noticed how eerily silent this place was. There was not a single breath of wind anywhere, even this high up in the stratosphere she figured the jet streams would be howling, but there was nothing. All she could hear was the sound of her own breathing and heartbeat, and it was deafening.

With this place's sheer beauty and the isolation far above the planet, if a divine being were to have a residence in the mortal world, she figured this would certainly do it.

"Wow! This place is huge!" Kakarot said out loud. His voice somehow carried an echo to it more than it should, and it made Gine turn to him and give him a sharp look to stay quiet. He shrunk back under his mother's glare him too realizing his mistake. It seemed silly to her that she reacted that way, but she couldn't help but feel that they shouldn't disturb this place at all.

Without another word, they walked forward towards the temple. The peace and quiet was almost unnerving to Gine, and she wanted to find this Kami soon.

As they walked she saw what must have been the entrance of the building in the center, flanked by pillars of equally polished white stone. The opening into it though was but a portal into complete darkness noticeable even from the far off other side of where both mother and son stood a few hundred yards away. It made Gine feel like they were being watched, and unwelcome to even come near it. But she couldn't tell if there was anybody here, even through her senses. Was this place deserted and she was just jumpy?

Kakarot stopped and looked off to the side. Gine noticed this and looked to where he looked. She stiffed for a moment when she saw a dark figure sitting on a patterned carpet not too far off from them. In the glare of the white-tiles he seemed unnoticeable, and Gine figured that's why they didn't see this person earlier.

Kakarot walked closer to the figure with Gine following cautiously behind him. The figure was short and plump looking, had pointy ears and a skin complexion that was as black as ink. Clad in a turban, red vest, white sash-like trousers and slippers while adorned in gold armbands and earrings. He sat cross-legged, feeding a flock of many different colored birds that sat perched on his shoulders and on the carpet he sat.

As they approached him, the dark figure turned his gaze to them as if finally noticing them. Gine felt like his perfectly circular and unblinking eyes were starring directly _into_ her as well as at her, like he was scrutinizing her soul.

"Uh, hello." Kakarot said, breaking the silence.

It...or he, smiled at them with bright red lips. "Hello." The figure answered back in a soft, polite voice.

"I'm Kakarot, and this is my mom, Gine." Her son explained, gesturing at her. "We're here to meet someone named Kami."

"Ah yes. I know Kami." The figure said, his serene tone making up for his face's frozen smile.

"Uh...is he you?" Kakarot asked cautiously. Gine frowned at her son asking that question but had a feeling that he had been tricked by a gimmick like that before.

"No, I am not Kami. My name is Mr. Popo, I'm the caretaker of the Lookout and Kami's assistant."

"Oh, well, nice to meet you, Mr. Popo." Kakarot said as he bowed. Gine did the same, proud that she at least taught him well about showing respect.

Mr. Popo nodded his head to them to return the gesture. "Kami told me all about you two." He said as he continued feeding the birds. "You both fought King Piccolo yourselves and it was you, Gine, that had managed to best him in combat and have him sealed away with help from the Turtle Hermit."

Both Gine and Kakarot were shocked. "What?! How did he find out about that?" Gine asked. As far as she knew, it was only them and their friends that knew of their battle.

"Kami knows about everything my friends. He watches over everything that happens on Earth. He is great!" Mr. Popo answered.

"Huh..." Gine said simply, she guessed that being a deity required a little omniscience.

Kakarot peaked behind Mr. Popo towards the gold-roofed building. "So, is that Kami's house over there?"

"Yes it is." Mr. Popo answered, then Kakarot turned to him.

"Can we meet him now?" He asked.

"Do you have proof that Korin has approved of your being here?" Mr. Popo asked them.

Kakarot thought for a moment and reached under his belt to procure the bell. "You mean this? Korin gave it to me!" He said happily.

"Good, it's clear to me that you have been approved then." Mr. Popo said, "Are you both ready for the test?"

"Huh? What test?" Kakarot asked, Gine was just as confused.

"The test! Each of you must fight me, Mr. Popo..." He said pointing a thumb to himself. "...and if you both win against me then you will then be able to meet the Guardian of the Earth. Do you accept?"

Gine inwardly groaned. She wasn't looking forward to any more fighting today after everything that happened with Piccolo, let alone play-fight with some mystical caretaker to have permission to say hi to a god.

"Sure, sounds easy enough! Let's fight!" Kakarot answered for them both. Gine sighed in defeat.

"You're the first challengers I've had in centuries. This is exciting!" Mr. Popo said as he got up, the birds on his shoulders not disturbed at all.

"Great! So, I'll fight you first, and whoever give's in loses, okay?" Kakarot said as he got into stance.

"Sounds great!" Mr. Popo confirmed.

Well, judging from his size and non-fighter-likeness, Gine figured this would be over rather quickly. Even if this guy had some hidden abilities that her son was sure to overlook as he often did (she still hadn't fully pounded into him Gohan's teaching of how important it was to never underestimate his opponents), she felt confident enough in herself to guess that this Mr. Popo would be a pushover to her.

"Ha, have I got a surprise for you!" Kakarot smiled, ready to pounce on Mr. Popo who did not get into stance at all and just left himself open.

"Really? Please then, go ahead. Show me!"

Kakarot laughed heartedly, "Here I go!" He cheered as he suddenly vanished.

"Ah! He's gone!" Mr. Popo cried out to Gine who just stood off to the side. Gine knew what her son had in mind, and tracked her son's movements. Though she found Mr. Popo's lack of concern odd.

"There you are." Mr. Popo said out loud and extended an arm out right into the side of Kakarot's head just as he appeared next to him, sending him tumbling backwards while Mr. Popo stood where he was unfazed.

"Ow, hey!" Kakarot whined as he sat upright.

"Gotchya!" Mr. Popo said to him. Gine was taken aback, how did he see that attack coming? He wasn't even looking for Kakarot's movements like Tien did back at the tournament.

"Lucky shot, that was all, I bet." Her son said as he got back on his feet. "I won't let that happen again. Are you ready?"

"Always." Mr. Popo said stoically, and still not getting into defensive stance.

Kakarot charged directly at him, "With this punch, you'll giv-"

Mr. Popo's fist connected squarely with Kakarot's face, stopping him in mid-air and groaning. If Gine weren't so concerned by how effortlessly her son was being blocked, she might have laughed at the sight.

"Oh! Got you again!" Mr. Popo declared in his polite voice as Kakarot fell to the ground and clutched his face in pain.

"You're not very strong." Mr. Popo said as if matter-of-factly.

Kakarot looked up at him angrily, "Hey! You take that back!"

"No, you're weak." Mr. Popo said, his words making her son more infuriated.

"This time I'll get you!" He yelled at the dark skinned being.

The birds on Mr. Popo's shoulders finally flew away. "Aw, look at what you did, you frightened the birds away with that bad attitude of your. You'll never beat me, so please just give up."

Kakarot growled dangerously, "Don't make fun of me!"

He sprang at Mr. Popo again with all he had, but he just phased away after every strike and reappearing as if he didn't move a muscle. After one flying strike at Mr. Popo, he suddenly disappeared and reappeared beside Kakarot in mid-kick. Gine saw it left him completely open and Mr. Popo attacked for the first time, kicking him cleanly in the sternum and sending him across the Lookout grounds like a projectile. Kakarot recovered quickly by using one of the trees to swing himself around and have the momentum carry him back at Mr. Popo for another crack at him. But Mr. Popo stopped his kick with an arm block, and swiftly grabbed Kakarot by the ankle to throw him away again. Kakarot bounced across the tiles a few times before stopping, on all fours in pain as Mr. Popo just starred at him with those expressionless eyes.

Gine shook her head, her son had underestimated his opponent for sure. But what concerned her more now was how did Mr. Popo sense what her son's moves were going to be so he could counter them perfectly every time?

"Mr. Popo is very disappointed, I'm surprised that Korin would even send you up here. I'm sorry, but you will not meet with Kami today." Mr. Popo said to Kakarot, still on the ground and struggling to get up. Gine also noticed he was having more trouble standing than he normally would. Her son could fight for hours before falling over in exhaustion, what was wrong with him?

"NO! It's not over! I'll get you!" Kakarot declared as he finally got to his feet. He cupped his hands and held them close to his body.

"KAAA...MEEE...HAAA...MEEE..."

Mr. Popo smiled, as if knowing what was about to happen. Gine was disturbed that this guy did not seem the least bit worried about being blasted apart, but she smiled at seeing that her little boy never gave up even when told to.

 **"HAAAAAAAA!"** Kakarot fired the Wave directly at Mr. Popo, a bright beam of blue light that closed the distance quickly. But in almost comidic fashion, Mr. Popo opened his mouth impossibly wide and ingested the energy blast whole. He closed his mouth, and belched steam as if it was the only negative effect it had on him.

"Wha-wha-WHAT?!" Kakarot just stood there as dumbfounded as Gine was. "He ate the Kamehameha Wave?!" Was all he could say, and Mr. Popo just chuckled jovially.

The shock wore off and Kakarot charged at Mr. Popo in a blind rage, not caring for plan of attack or technique and instead just punching in a barrage. Mr. Popo held out his hands to block the attacks and didn't seem the least bit affected by them.

"Why don't you just give up?" Mr. Popo taunted. Kakarot tried a kicked but it only sent him flying far away and landing on the other side of the arena. Gine thought the tiled-grounds of the Lookout resembled one anyway.

"OH YEAH?! WELL TRY THIS ONE!" Kakarot shouted, and clenched his fists as if to summon all the energy he had in his being. He then ran at Popo with a fist outstretched and enshrouded in energy, creating a shock wave in it's path. To Gine, it looked like it could punch a hole clean through Mr. Popo if he was hit with it.

At the last moment, Mr. Popo flew upwards unmovingly as if picked up by an invisible being, leaving Kakarot to fumble over himself as his attack fizzled out.

"No way!" Kakarot said in utter disbelief, almost falling to his knees.

"It's a shame that you have such great power, yet you make such poor use of it." Mr. Popo said as he hovered above them both, "You, Kakarot, need to learn self-control because only then will you be able to pass this test and meet with Kami."

Mr. Popo slowly lowered himself back down to the ground as if he were as light as a feather. His ceaseless smile seemed to demoralize Kakarot even more that he could not make an impact on the one thing between him and Kami, while Gine seemed more determined for her son to get back up and beat this guy down for all of his tough talk.

"Looking after the Guardian of the Earth keeps me pleasantly busy, little Kakarot. While I do enjoy your company, I'm afraid it is time for you to leave." Mr. Popo said, then turned his back and walked toward the temple.

"Hey, wait! We can't go! Korin said me and Mom could come her to receive training from Kami himself for defeating Piccolo! You can't just deny us that!"

Popo didn't answer or seem to care, and just kept walking away.

"We're not leaving!" Kakarot declared defiantly, and launched himself at Popo again.

"You have quite a temper, don't you?" Popo said as he effortlessly dodged Kakarot's attack. This made her son angrier still and launch barrages of punches and kicks at Popo. But Popo barely moved to dodge his attacks, and sometimes didn't move at all as if he was phasing in and out of his spot. But Gine couldn't sense any super-speed movements from him as Kakarot did. How was he evading without even moving?

Popo flicked his arm as if reflexively, only to elbow Kakarot in the face again and send him crashing to the floor flat on his back.

"I already told you, you can't win."

Kakarot refused to give up still. He got up and lunged at Popo with a flying kick. "Come on!"

Popo somehow reappeared in front of Kakarot with an open palm to send him crashing to the floor yet again. "So persistent you are, however lacking in mental and physical discipline. You'll be a great fighter, but not yet." Popo lectured, his smile still not leaving his face. Gine was beginning to feel more and more of the urge to punch it off herself for her son.

"I can't believe it! That hurt more than Piccolo's punches!" Kakarot said, holding his face in pain but amazed at the display of power by Popo.

"Yes, you beat him and so assumed you were the strongest in the world. But learn this now: No matter how strong you are, there will always be someone stronger who comes along. To stay on top, you must keep pushing yourselves past what you think is your limits."

Kakarot nodded, "I feel pretty weak, now." He said, his eyes looking to the ground in humility.

"I'm glad we had this little chat. Now go on home, please."

"What?! NO! We have to see Kami! A promise is a promise, right?! After all we did just save the world from Piccolo!"

"And yet you are still not strong enough to get past me. That test is what you had to pass in order to see him anyway, and you failed. So you cannot see him."

A light went on in Kakarot's head. "Hey, wait! I know, how about we stay here and train!"

"Train? For what?" Asked Popo, and Gine too out of alarm that her son was making intentions for her as well.

Kakarot laughed in excitement. "You know! Until me and Mom are strong enough to beat you!"

"Ah, yes. Well, I guess so, but don't leave skid marks on the tiles."

"Thank's a lot, Mr. Popo! See ya soon!" Kakarot said as he sprinted off to the side of the ring, and started to run the edge of it's perimeter as if doing laps. Gine shook her head in disbelief.

"Your son is quite tenacious." Mr. Popo said to her.

"You have no idea." Sha answered back.

"What a good-hearted boy he is, though." He said sincerely.

They both watched Kakarot, after just half a lap he had already begun to lose steam in his run, slowing down more until he has panting like he was dying for a breather. When he reached his starting point, he stopped and nearly doubled over in exhaustion. "I'm...I'm ti-ired!" He said between gulps of air.

Mr. Popo starred at Kakarot laboring for breath, "The Lookout is at a very high altitude, Kakarot. The air here is quite thin, so breathing will be much more difficult. To train without passing out, you will need to get rid of your redundant moves. Energy is far to precious up here to be wasted."

"How do I not waste it?" Kakarot asked.

"You must be more tranquil than the sky, yet quicker than lightning. "

"Hmmm..." Kakarot mulled over Popo words. "Sounds tricky. The sky doesn't move, and when I see lightning it's really quick."

"Watch me. Empty your mind of thoughts." Mr. Popo said. He and Kakarot starred at each other for a very long time while Gine watched patiently from the side... That deafening silence overtook them again, drowning her thoughts in the sound of air rushing into her lungs and the blood pumping through her ears.

"Do you notice how quiet it is up here when no one talks? It's really creepy." Kakarot said, breaking the silence and earning dirty looks from both Popo and his mother.

"Oh, sorry." Kakarot said. He then stood tall and stiff, and widened his eyes as if to imitate Popo himself. Gine thought it was a febrile joke.

"Kakarot, you are just making your eyes go blurry. That's not the same as emptying your mind." Mr. Popo said deadpan.

"Wha-? Wow, this is harder than I thought!"

"When's that done, you can focus on not being a slug." Mr. Popo said, just before he instantly reappeared behind a slow-to-react Kakarot with his back turned to him.

"HOW'D YOU DO THAT?! I didn't see you move one bit!" Kakarot exclaimed, then scratching his right cheek. "There aren't two Mr. Popos here, are there?" He asked.

"I can see you're puzzled. You're scratching your right cheek."

Kakarot looked at his hand in amazement and back at Popo. "That's even weirder! You have eyes on the back of your head or something?!"

"Nope."

"Then how can you see what I'm doing?" Kakarot exasperated.

"The answer is the same reason why you can't see me moving." Mr. Popo said as turned to face Kakarot, pointing to his face. "You're only using your eyes to see. True sight requires all your senses, my young friend."

"Huh?" Kakarot hummed, perplexed.

"Feel the movements of the air around me, and then you'll be able to see me."

Kakarot looked at his hands. "Wow. So I gotta see without my eyes and be like the sky and lightning? That's a lot of stuff. No wonder you keep beating me."

Mr. Popo put his hands on his hips. "Well, the Guardian of Earth has taught me many things in our years together. I'd like to think that I make him proud."

"Whoa! Are you saying that Kami is even stronger than you?!" Kakarot eye's bulged.

"Oh yes, much stronger. I'm a mouse compared to him."

Kakarot could only look at Mr. Popo agape. If he and his mother, the one person who he always saw as unbeatable, had trouble with getting past Popo then he couldn't imagine what going up Kami would be like.

"Are you discouraged?" Mr. Popo asked them, gauging their reactions.

Kakarot answered in a heartbeat. "Not at all! Now I'm even more excited!"

Mr. Popo, for the first time since she got here, seemed genuinely surprised.

"Two guys stronger than me and Mom, who can beat us up without even trying?" Kakarot jumped up, too giddy to contain himself. "Now that's a limit to surpass for sure!"

Mr. Popo smiled a toothy smile. "Kakarot, you are a peculiar boy."

Then Kakarot stopped. "Wait a second. If Kami is stronger than any of us, why didn't _he_ come down and beat Piccolo?"

"I'm afraid his role in that is not that simple." Mr. Popo answered curtly. Gine wondered what that was supposed to even mean.

"Hey, I've got it!" Kakarot said. "I'm gonna stay here forever!"

"What?!" Gine looked at her son in shock.

"Or at least until I get strong enough to beat both of you guys!"

Gine was hoping her son was only referring to himself. Did he really expect her to stay with- no. Of course he did, she knew what she meant to him.

Mr. Popo chuckled. "I've never seen anyone as determined and cheerful for a challenge before. Very well then, I will assist you."

"YAY! I was hoping you'd teach me how! My brain hurts too much when I think." Kakarot sounded relieved, but Mr. Popo quickly squished that hope.

"Oh no, Kakarot. You still have to learn on your own. I'll just give you hints."

"That's stingy!" Kakarot protested.

"You're carrying a bell, correct?"

"Uh, bell?" He asked, then rembered. "Oh yeah! The one Korin gave me!"

He handed the object to Mr. Popo, who tied it to his belt then looked back to Kakarot. "Try one more time to hit Mr. Popo."

Gine frowned, she wished he'd stop referring himself in the third person. She found it annoying somehow.

"Okay! But I learned a lot, so be warned!" Kakarot said as he launched himself at Popo. The next minute proved to be yet another fruitless attempt by her son to best this strange person, and yet has not landed a single blow on him.

"Darn it, I'm still not quick enough!" Her son complained.

"And what else?" Mr. Popo asked.

"You backflipped?" Kakarot asked, but Mr. Popo shook his head.

"What happened before you attacked me?"

"Well let's see. I gave you my bell..." He started, then paused as if struck by realization. "Hey, yeah! You moved like an acrobat to dodge my attack, and the bell never even made a peep!" He said. "How'd you do that?"

"Maybe you should try it."

"Okay." Kakarot agreed and took the bell to tie on his belt. He threw a punch, and the bell rang out as soon as he moved.

"Must've slipped. Hold on." He fessed, and tried again. But the bell rang again, and again. It became apparent that his efforts were not working.

"That's weird." Kakarot said, sitting down in defeat. "The bell's quiet around you, but every time I move it makes sound."

He looked up hopefully. "I know! It's a trick, right?"

Mr. Popo did not appreciate that comment. "Go home, Kakarot." He said seriously as he began to walk away.

"No, wait! Don't leave! Uh, did I say something wrong?" Kakarot begged.

Mr. Popo stopped for a moment, "I look after the Earth's Guardian, my boy. I don't have time for games."

"I'm sorry. I just reminded me of a prank Master Roshi pulled."

Mr. Popo turned back to Kakarot, curious.

"At least, Krillin told me it was a prank when we were finished, but maybe it was for real. We were training out in the wastelands one time where we had to balance big jugs of water on top of our heads while tiptoeing on rock spires. It was REALLY hard to not spill a single drop as Roshi instructed us to. Though Krillin said Master Roshi had glued the jar to his head." Kakarot said. Then he thought, "But maybe there is a way to move that keeps the water from splashing around, and bells from ringing!"

Kakarot thought more for a moment. "Water from splashing around... Hey, I got it! Water spills when you move it one way and then back the other direction. It works just like a bell!" He said, holding up the bell. "You move it only once, it doesn't work. so you have to keep jingling it back and forth!"

Mr. Popo smiled in a glowing way that Gine found to be his more genuine happy-type smile. "And those are the redundant moves."

"Then I win!" Kakarot cheered triumphantly.

Mr. Popo seemed pleased. "See, you're smart when you try, Kakarot. But knowing something isn't enough to win."

Kakarot nodded. "Right, I get it. I have to learn how to really move that way. But once I keep the bell quiet, I can beat you, can I?"

"Perhaps. But it could take years of intense training. And, even after you've learned the technique, there's still the chance you won't be able to get past me. Will you make such a commitment that could potentially end in vain?"

Kakarot thought about that, and looked down in contemplation. They stood there for awhile. Gine already knew what he was going to decide, but whatever it was she hoped against hope that he wasn't going to drag her into it.

"You bet! I'll do whatever it takes to be the best fighter in the world and to protect Earth from the likes of Piccolo!"

Gine was just about to put her foot down and tell Kakarot that there was no way on or above Earth that she was going to spend the rest of her life in this place for him. When, suddenly...

"That's good to hear." Came a different voice.

The three of them turned towards where it came from in the direction of the temple. The hair on Gine's neck involuntarily stood up.

"Hey, who's there?!" Asked Kakarot, suddenly growing excited. "Is that you, Mr. Kami?"

"Yes, Son Kakarot, I am Kami. I will meet you and your mother now." Said the voice, echoing from deep inside the building. It was powerful, yet carried softness and elegance in it's infliction.

"WOW! You mean it? Before the years of training?! YEAH!" Kakarot asked hopefully.

Mr. Popo turned to both of them. "You two are very fortunate, Kakarot and Gine. This is rare."

"Thanks Mr. Guardian!" Kakarot cheered as the three of them walked to the temple entrance. Before they crossed the threshold, Mr. Popo stopped.

"Don't move closer than this." He commanded.

"Okay!" Kakarot said without question. "This is exciting!" He added. Gine wasn't sure why but given this was the highest being on the planet, she respected Popo's wish.

A moment later, she heard soft footsteps and a curious clanking sound. Then, an ancient wooden staff taller than her appeared, clutched by a very green hand. Then it was followed by the rest of the Guardian of the Earth himself.

In a second, Gine's tail stood up frayed when she saw the unmistakably familiar face of a Namekian. But just as her shock came, it went when her mind registered that, no, it wasn't Piccolo. He looked like him, But it was...

"PICCOLO!" Kakarot screamed in rage. "I'VE SHOULD'VE KNOWN!" He leapt after the Guardian before Gine could react.

"WAIT! NO!" Mr. Popo pleaded frantically for Kakarot to stop, it was the first time she had ever seen the little round man show real fear.

The Guardian, without flinching, lifted a hand and flicked his index finger. Kakarot was suddenly blasted away by an invisible force that sent him flying into Mr. Popo's arms.

He caught her son upside-down, and Kakarot squirmed and tried to fight his way out of Mr. Popo's grasp. "LET GO OF ME! DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?! HE'S PICCOLO! HE'S GOING TO TRY AND KILL US ALL!"

"It is you who do not understand, my friend. This is not Piccolo." Mr. Popo scolded. Kakarot stopped squirming and eyed the Guardian in confusion. Gine turned to the Namekian too, about to demand answers when Kami stepped forward to them.

"I should've known Korin wouldn't explain it to you." He said in a soft voice.

"Did you say Korin?" Kakarot asked.

"He think's he is _very_ funny by pulling a prank like this. But there's a good reason you mistook me for Piccolo." Kami said as he drew closer and stopped before them.

 _Don't be fooled by what you see. Your eyes aren't playing tricks, and neither am I._ Korin's words echoed in Gine's mind. It all made sense now, but she felt the urge to go back down to Earth and strangle that cat for giving her such a fright with omitting the fact that he was Piccolo's doppelganger.

His flowing blue cloak framed his tall figure, and clad in a heavenly-white robe with a crest not unlike Piccolo's, but had different characters that Gine didn't recognize. She looked into his eyes as she did with Piccolo. And as old and wrinkled he seemed like Piccolo did however, Kami's eyes were gentle, kind, and held a wealth of knowledge that Gine couldn't begin to fathom. He was a god that could not stand pain or cruelty instead of thriving on it as Piccolo did, and unlike the arrogant "Demon King", this being carried himself with a dignified humility.

"My name is Kami, and I am indeed the Guardian of this planet. But it wasn't always that way. Ages ago, me and Piccolo were a single being. Like a coin with two opposing sides."

"Huh? You and Piccolo used to be the same person? How does that work?" Kakarot asked, confused.

"Well, I was once a martial artist much like yourself long ago, but gave that up to become the overseer and protector of planet Earth after my predecessor passed on to the next world. For you see, Guardians are a mortal lot, much like you. There was a Guardian before me, and one day, I sensed that his end was approaching. I made the same trek that you both did, up to this Lookout, and trained under him in the hopes of becoming his successor. But he turned his back on me. I strongly believed I was destined to replace him, but in his great wisdom he saw in me a side I was too proud to admit."

Gine and Kakarot were silent as they listened intently.

"You see, a Guardian's motives must be pure. Yet in me was a selfish desire for it's power and control, a side that thrived on bitterness and hate. So for many brutal years I meditated and trained, until I was finally able to separate my impure desire and drive it out of my body. However, that evil side of me became self-aware and manifested a physical body, and became the being known as Piccolo. While in my purified form I remained here at the Lookout and became the next Guardian, Piccolo went down to Earth to incite chaos and disorder. It has been a great source of guilt for me ever since."

Gine could only nod in interest, for it was a lot of backstory to take in to just explain why he looked so similar to Piccolo. But it made sense, at least...

"Wait, so if you and Piccolo were the same being while he was your dark side incarnate, why didn't you just come down to Earth to stop him from causing trouble?" Gine asked. She saw Mr. Popo give her an indignant look as if she shouldn't be asking that question, but she didn't care.

Kami answered regardless. "For one thing, as Guardian I cannot meddle directly with events or people down on the planet itself, as it would be a violation of my duty as a god in the mortal realm. I can at most involve myself indirectly, and Piccolo was the result of one of my "indirect" influences as he was discarded from me with no intent of being involved with the Earth, yet he found a way down there. And second..." Kami hesitated for a moment, "...we share our life force together. If one of us died or was killed, the other would die as well."

That was strange to Gine. "So..." She said, trying to understand. "If you or I had killed Piccolo, you would have died too?"

Kami nodded. "Yes."

"Ah." Gine understood now. Granted, the idea of someone splitting into two fully different entities that could not kill one another was quite a stretch for her to accept as fact. But given all she had seen on Earth, she wasn't too surprised by it.

"That would definitely cause a problem." Was all she could add. Gine also realized in horror at how close she came to indirectly killing this gentle being when Piccolo distracted her from finishing him off.

"Indeed it would have been my end." Kami said, then his gaze turned downward in melancholy. "And I must confess that with all the destruction and pain caused to the people of Earth before at the hands of my other half, I was willing to let that happen. For knowing that my actions in securing this title has caused harm to the planet I was supposed to look after, I wanted to end my life so as to ensure the people could truly be safe."

"What?!" Kakarot exclaimed in disbelief, having never heard how someone wished they could die, especially coming from a god. But Gine could detect the sadness in the Namekian's voice and his eyes, that he truly regretted his own existence in a way. She tried to imagine how'd she feel if by trying to protect those she cared about to only end up killing them instead. And she thought of the story Roshi told her of his old Master Mutaito and his heroic sacrifice after a long and bloody conflict many decades ago. And in that moment she felt sorry for Kami.

"That can't be true! It's not your fault that something you didn't want in you, hurt people." Kakarot said to Kami, trying to be reassuring.

This made the Guardian smile fondly at the boy. "I admire how you can see good where there is little to be found, Kakarot. But the fact remained that Piccolo had caused a great amount of trouble..." His smile then became sincere and filled with great relief.

"And you two, with the help of your fellow Earthlings and the guidance of Master Roshi, have stopped him in his boldest assault. And in a way that would not require me to die. For that, I am eternally grateful to you."

Kakarot and Gine smiled. "Oh, your welcome, Kami!" Kakarot waved dismissively. "But my Mom did most of the work, he was far too good a fighter for me."

Gine didn't appreciate the comment of how her son focused all of the efforts to defeat Piccolo on her. But she was happy at how that Kami knew that it wasn't just her that brought his other half down. And filled with content that their actions in sealing him away had saved Kami's life.

"Even so..." Kami continued, a faint hint of emotion in his voice. "Thank you for dealing with Piccolo."

He gave a long, low bow to them. Gine felt humbled by this act and being as respectful as she was before a deity, she returned the bow in kind with Kakarot mirroring her after watching what she was doing. When she lifted her head, she perked her head when she remembered.

Gine reached into her tunic and pulled out the capsule containing the rice cooker.

"Here he is, by the way." She said as she walked to Kami. "Roshi managed to seal him away for good in the cooker with the capsule. Knowing what he is to you now... I think you should have this."

Kami looked at the capsule inquisitively for a moment, then held out a hand for her to place it in. After which, he did nothing but stare at the cursed capsule he held in his open hand, containing his very evil half within it. Gine saw what looked like self-loathing and anger flash in the elder Namekian's eyes, before he grasped the capsule firmly and closed his eyes, as if to calm himself. He dared not let go of his grasp, for fear he might break it at the slightest drop.

"There really is a lack of words to express how much I owe you now. But as Guardian, I will do my best." Was all he said to the Saiyan duo, then spoke aloud.

"Mr. Popo, take this capsule and put it somewhere safe where it can not be disturbed or found ever again. Understood?" He commanded with such finality.

"Yes, Kami." Mr. Popo said without hesitation as he took the capsule and ran into the depths of the Lookout.

As they watched Mr. Popo off, a thought occurred to her.

"How did you know that I wasn't the only one to defeat Piccolo? As far as I know, nobody knows but us and Korin that we even fought him. Can you really see what's going on from up here?" Gine asked, looking around the rim of the Lookout and wondering how would anyone be able to see something as definitive as people on the ground, let alone on the other side of the globe.

"I see all that occurs on Earth from up here, for I use sight beyond sight. The ability to sense other's life forces and actions in a manner that Mr. Popo was trying to demonstrate to Kakarot here." He said half jokingly and gesturing to where his assistant disappeared off into.

He then turned to the two Saiyans. "I have even watched you two specifically, since the day you first crash landed on this planet. Is it true that you have come from the stars?"

Gine felt her pulse quicken. It had been so long since she had worried about a random stranger asking them that question, and how they would react. They had been so careful about it since the day that Gohan found them, that it seemed like second nature to shy away from it no matter what. Sure, their friends knew already but it was under very unusual circumstances during the hunt for the dragonballs. That and Kakarot couldn't keep his mouth shut sometimes.

But now, in front of the one person in charge of overseeing all that occurs on his watch...

"Yes! We're Saiyans from a planet called Vegeta!" Kakarot answered for the both of them. Gine felt half-relieved/half-angry at her son for breaking that unspoken agreement between them about discussing their origins. He never really could keep his mouth shut sometimes.

"Saiyans?" Kami said softly, as if rolling the alien word out his tongue.

Gine decided to pitch in this time. "Yes. We are from a race of warriors. Our planet was destroyed by some great cataclysm and as far as we know, me and my son are the only ones left."

Even though Kakarot had broken the unspoken agreement about sharing their origins, she still didn't want to reveal every little detail like Frieza or the fact that they helped slaughter entire planets in his name. And see did NOT want to recount how she had another child who was lost too, and all the pain that would rip her open again.

The way Kami looked at them changed dramatically though, as if regarding them for the first time again. In awe, and in frightful wonder.

"A race of conquerors?" He asked affrightedly.

Gine nodded, not wanting to elaborate on the barbarity on her kind. But she didn't like where his line questions were going.

"And... are you two..." He asked cautiously but didn't finish, as if assessing them somehow. Gine had the feeling that he had some reservations that he might have just invited the destroyers of his charge right to his doorstep.

Gine shook her head vehemently. "Absolutely not me, nor my son. We hate causing anyone pain and we only want to live in peace and isolation."

"But we do like to fight though!" Kakarot added happily. Gine frowned at him, hoping he didn't scare Kami. She then continued, "We were outcasts of the Saiyan race, for having the rotten luck of being born weak and hating any form of aggression made me nothing but the lowest of the low in our society. We came here to get away from our planet's destruction... and a wonderfully kind human by the name of Son Gohan had taken us in, and sheltered us. We have lived quietly ever since and want nothing more than that." It was a rather shorthen short version of their whole story, but Gine didn't feel like elaborating more.

Kami starred at them for a long time, then nodded as if to assure himself. "I see. I believe you now."

"You do?" Kakarot asked.

"You two are indeed warriors, I could see from the way you carry yourselves no matter how much you try to conceal your... Saiyan-ness." He said for lack of a better description. "But I can tell your hearts are pure and just, and I trust you both as good people that mean no harm to the inhabitants of Earth, despite how incredibly strong you are."

"Whew! That's a relief!" Kakarot chimed. Gine herself felt relieved, as she was worried he was going to demand that they leave Earth for sure. She didn't want to thing what would've happened if he considered them a threat.

He then asked another question, just as hesitantly. "And, after your encounter with Piccolo, he...and I, were of an extraterrestrial kind you recognized?"

"Yes!" Gine asked, glad for a change in subject. "You are a Namekian. A race of green-skinned bipedals from the planet Namek. I have never been there myself, but it was known by our people."

If Kami was struggling to comprehend the idea of other planets and species beyond the Earth, and that HE himself was an alien, Gine couldn't tell. But, he smiled.

"I must admit that this idea of you two from outer space is quiet strange and fascinating to me. And even more amazing that I am too. But I guess it made sense, since I have never encountered anyone like me ever since... whenever I arrived."

"You don't remember?" Gine asked, curious at how he couldn't remember such a minute but important detail.

"No, most of my memory was lost when Piccolo and I separated. There are still some bits and pieces of things I remember like me being a fighter once, but it was lost to me since then..."

"Huh." Was all both mother and son could say.

"Thank you both for telling me this." Kami said. "That was another reason why I invited you both up here when the time was right. For most of my recent life I had only been living off of shadows from a forgotten past after me and Piccolo separated, but you two having coming from the heavens itself was the only chance I had to learn anything about who or what I might be. And now that I definitively know my place of origin, I feel like I can fill in the blanks now. And for that I thank you."

"Oh, well, you're welcome I guess." Gine said. She felt odd that she would receive thanks for just so happening to know of his species that he didn't (one that may be wiped out by now if Frieza's empire was still growing).

At that moment, Mr. Popo re-emerged from the temple and rejoined Kami's side. "It is done."

"Good." Kami said without another word, and turned back to them.

"Now that is done, I would now like to finally extend to you the reason I have invited you two up here. For as a reward for dealing with Piccolo, I will give ear to your any training request."

Kakarot leapt excitedly. "Really?!"

"Yes." Said Kami with a smile. "I am fully aware how much you admire the martial arts, Kakarot, and your desire to be the best fighter on this planet. So in graditude I will grant you and your mother any kind of training you like from me and Mr. Popo here."

Kakarot couldn't contain himself. "Awesome! I already know exactly what I'd like. I would love for you, Mr. Popo, and Mom to teach me everything you know!"

Gine's heart sank. She knew Kakarot would want to include her in this training. But she didn't want to say yes. All she wanted right now was to go home. It had been a taxing day already with Piccolo and almost losing Kakarot. As fascinating as it was to meet Kami, she didn't want to start more training now of _all_ times.

Kami pondered over Kakarots words. "That can be done, my boy."

"YEAH!" Kakarot cheered. "You'd do this for us?!"

"Of course. Normally I would do so begrudgingly, but this is an exception as not only have you saved the world but spared any further harm my other half could do. And for that I am grateful. And hopefully I can help you both as the strongest fighters to prepare for any future calamities that could strike Earth."

As Kakarot ran in circles celebrating this news, Gine's mind and heart were torn. She didn't want to start training for another event like Piccolo. Notwithstanding her fatigued state at the time being, for she didn't think she would have what it took to stand up to anything now. No matter how strong she got, they would beat her, as Piccolo did. What could this Namekian even provide for her that could help? She would always be weak.

"But on one condition." Kami interjected. Both Gine and her son snapped out of their states of mind and looked at him.

"If you both accept to train under me, you both must remain here for as long as my motives may require. In this case, for the next three years."

Gine's face turned ashen.

Three years?!

If her destined failure of being a better warrior was not enough, she would have to train non-stop with these strangers and be confined with her son on the verge of his growth spurth in this isolated place?!

"Of course! I wanted to do that anyway!" Kakarot said happily, oblivious to his mother's silent objections.

Kami chuckled, but then said. "That's good to hear from you, Kakarot. But..." He looked up at Gine. "It should also be up to your mother if she wants to train as well."

"Of course she does! She even promised to train with me, right, Mom?" Kakarot smiled as he looked up at her with his overwhelmingly innocent eyes.

Gine took in his open and wonderous gaze, the way he always looked at her when he needed guidance, or inspiration, or safety like he was since he was a baby. She hated the way he held her in such undeserved regard, not to mention the way he had just declared what she wanted without her say. But, it never failed to warm her heart at how her son smiled up at her, or how he could speak of and look of her as if she was the greatest thing to have ever existed.

And thus, she never felt so ashamed at herself as his mother when she had to answer.

"I'm sorry, Kakarot, but I can't train with you." She said gently.

Kakarot at first didn't register what she said, but when he did he looked like he had been gut-punched. "WHAT?!"

Kami subtly raised an eyebrow while Mr. Popo remained as stoic as ever.

"W-why not?! I thought you wanted to?" Her son asked, completely baffled and pleading.

"Because I don't want to. It's rude to not ask others for what they want and decide things for them..." She said, trying to remind him a lesson she thought she had already taught him. Then continued. "... and besides. This would be better if this training was just for you."

"Why just me?!" Kakarot asked, more confusion feeding his worry.

"Because, Kakarot, you are the greatest fighter of this world. Not me. I'm not a true warrior." Gine said, feeling somewhat relieved that she was finally able to reveal that little thing that she always wished her son knew about her, despite how heart wrenching this decision was.

"What do you you're not a warrior?!" Her son asked, as if his world was being turned upside-down. "YOU are the greatest fighter on Earth! You beat Piccolo!"

"I didn't beat Piccolo myself." She answered, unable to look at her son as she explained. "Piccolo distracted me by telling me how he almost killed you. I was so worried that I may have lost you, that I dropped my guard and Piccolo nearly killed me. If it weren't for Master Roshi's sacrifice and use of the Evil Containment Wave, I would've died for sure and Piccolo would've gone on his rampage with no one to stop him."

Kakarot didn't say anything, digesting his mothers words.

"I was never a true warrior, Kakarot. You should know that. And it's true that I may be physically stronger than you, but when the world was in danger and I had to step up. I failed..." Gine said, her voice growing softer as she revealed how she truly felt of herself.

She knelt in front of Kakarot and held his arms gently. "I don't deserve training that will be wasted on me. You could make better use of it though, so you should do it if you want. You can be a far greater warrior than I ever could."

Kakarot shook his head. "That's not true, Mom! You ARE a great warrior. You taught me everything! You taught Grandpa so much, and helped saved the world! And it's not your fault that Piccolo was so sneaky! But that's why we are here, like Mr. Popo said that there will always be someone stronger out there, so if we train here we can be ready next time! And like Grandpa said: you could be a great warrior if you train hard enough!"

Gine smiled sadly, and felt proud that even though they were here for less than a day and Kakarot was already learning something. "I love you so much, sweetie. And I love how you could see good in things even if there is none there..." She said, almost catching herself when she realized Kami had said the same thing. She was amazed at how unfailingly kind her son was.

"But my decision stands. You should train alone and I won't be in the way. I will go back down to Earth and head home to Grandpa."

"No, Please!" Kakarot still refused and grabbed his mothers tunic. "You promised that you would teach me things I haven't yet and train with me! You can't break a promise!"

"No, I didn't." She said firmly. "I had only tentatively promised to accompany you to see Korin about training for fighting Piccolo, and _maybe.._." She emphasized that word, "...teach you some techniques later on." That was mostly true, for there were some things she could teach him that she had been putting of for awhile... when she felt ready. But...

"I did not promise to train you _now_ , while being stuck up here for three whole years." She hoped got her point across, but turned to the Guardian. "No offense."

"Please, Mom! I don't want you to go!" Kakarot begged and tugged on her gi harder. "PLEASE!"

"Kakarot, stop it." Gine warned, trying to stay calm in the face of Kakarot's desperation. But she found herself unable to contain her tears for how she was breaking her son's heart.

"PLEASE!" Kakarot shouted.

"NO!" She shouted back. Before Gine knew it, she had shoved Kakarot off of her and he stumbled back.

It was barely anything that would've hurt physically. She had hurt him far worse in just play fighting, and even nearly beaten him to death once before while seriously training as a child. But that shove did far more to him than she realized.

They looked at each other for a very long time, both stunned by what Gine did. The silence of their stare was far more deafening than the Lookout itself.

Finally, Kakarot's face fell and looked to the ground.

"Okay." He said, his voice barely audible.

Gine couldn't see his eyes, but she knew that he was beyond the point of crying. But he just stood there. For her, his hurt silence broke her heart far more than his most pained outbursts.

"I'm sorry." Was all Gine could say, her voice quivering at what she had done.

And with that, before anything else could happened, she looked toward Kami and Mr. Popo as they had just stood there silently the whole time.

Gine cleared her throat, but still couldn't get rid of the lump. "I'm so sorry for causing a scene, Mr. Kami." She said politely, then clasped her hands and bowed to him. "I thank you so much for your offer to train me, but I feel that my son here is far more worthy of it than I am, and so I must respectfully decline your offer."

Kami said nothing for a moment, then nodded. "I understand, Gine." He then looked down at Kakarot with his back to the Guardian.

"You must understand, Kakarot, that people should be allowed to make their own choices even if you don't agree with them. Even your mother."

Kakarot didn't react for a few seconds. Then said, "I know." His voiced sounded hollow.

Kami looked back up at Gine. "You may return to Earth below now if you wish, Gine. But I want you to know that my offer will always stand if you ever change your mind."

"Thank you Kami. It was nice to meet you." Gine said gratefully. She doubted she will, but part of her felt like it was always good to have that option. _If_ she felt like she had to.

"Likewise." Kami returned.

Gine slowly walked up to Kakarot, knelt down and hugged him as tight as she could. He didn't hug her back. Regardless of what they felt about her choice, this could be the last time she might seem for three years, and at least wanted to say goodbye.

"I love you, son. Come back to me safe, okay?" She said quietly, savoring the feel of his smaller frame in her embrace.

He finally let his arms up and hugged her back, but his grip was loose and reluctant. "Love you too, Mom." He said flatly, then let go.

Tears fell from Gine's eyes from how broken Kakarot sounded, but there was nothing more to do. This was her choice.

They silently parted their hug and Gine walked to the rim of the Lookout where the ladder was. She grasped the rungs and began the slow journey back to the Power Pole.

This time, the dizzying height above the ground was not as daunting to her now as the thought of looking her son in the eye again.

* * *

 **Whew! That was a long one!**

 **So...will Gine change her mind or will she finally let Kakarot take the reigns as Earth's defender/greatest fighter? Or are things between them irreparably broken now?**

 **Find out in the next chapter! See you then :)**


	17. CHAPTER 16: ONE'S WORTH

****Welcome back! I hope you liked the last chapter, and I hope too that you would like this one.****

 ** **And thank ALL of you who posted your reviews so far, telling me your thoughts, hopes of what to see, and of any mistakes I made. I will do my best to make sure this is done right!****

 ** **What will be the ramifications of Gine's decision? And could anything or anyone change her mind? Let's find out!****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 16: ONE'S WORTH

Gine clutched the Power Pole as it descended, or retracted it's length, back down to Korin's Tower. She kept an eye down the red line the Pole made to the ground as the wind rushed past her in a loud whistle, the sky all around her a clear blue. The storm clouds she and Kakarot had to get through earlier on the way up were gone and thus made the trip back down more uneventful. But it left her with nothing to focus on during the whole time it took and made her mind wander back up to where she had just left.

The Lookout had long since disappeared far above her, with Kakarot still on it. But she couldn't take her mind off of what transpired, no matter how hard she tried to surpress it.

She made the right choice to turn down Kami's offer. They all knew that her son was a far greater warrior than she could ever hope to be, and he deserved the chance to become the best fighter on this planet, not her. She couldn't even beat an old and decrepit Namekian that was but an insect to her power. She wasn't the weakest of the Saiyan race for nothing, and the way she poorly handled should've shown everyone why. So any training spent on her would be a waste of time; for no matter what advantage she had, she'll always end up losing. But at least Kakarot had the potential to be something more than he was born for. That was something she could live with, and even hoped for.

But... she couldn't stop thinking of the way he looked at her, when she shoved him away when he was practically begging her to stay. The sight of his crushed spirit in his eyes and the hurt in his voice made her chest clench.

Gine told herself that she had nothing to feel immensely guilty about. Her son looked up to her too much, and that he should understand that she would not always be there or even be able to solve things that he ought to do himself. She can't be forced to train with him, and he had learn that. Even though she may have been _too_ harsh trying to tell this to him, she was sure that he'll come around one day... she hoped.

Before long, the round cupola of Korin's Tower appeared, and the Pole slowed its retraction until her feet touched the roof. She sighed in relief that the acrophobic-inducing journey was over.

Gine lifted the Pole out of it's slot, holding it in one hand and turned to look over the edge.

"Hm?" Her ears perked up as she heard a scuffling just below her. Worried of any danger way up here, she hovered quickly down the side of the cupola to see what was going on.

When she reached the railing, she saw Korin clawing after the fat, long haired fellow who delivered the message to them at Roshi's earlier. He was trying to hold a bag out of Korin's reach, and it was spilling greenish kidney beans everywhere.

Gine relaxed, this was just a harmless squabble. What was the fat man's name again? Gine wondered, she thought it started with a 'Y'.

The bickering duo stopped and noticed Gine. Korin raised a furry eyebrow at seeing her back so soon.

"Well that was fast. Couldn't make it past Mr. Popo?" Korin said half-jokingly.

"Neither did Kakarot, but Kami showed himself though." Gine said flatly.

"Oh!" Korin said in mock surprise. "Well that's good..." He said, before chuckling.

Gine frowned, barely restraining herself from clobbering this cat for that omission of information earlier.

The fat man looked behind her. "Uh, where's Kakarot?"

She eyed the fat man, and pointed up. "He's still up there. He's training with Kami."

"Oh, good for him! And you too?" Korin asked.

Gine just shook her head, "Nope."

"Huh?" Now Korin was genuinely surprised. "He didn't think you were worthy? But you beat-"

"No, no." She stopped him, not pleased at having to explain that _again_. "He offered but I said no."

'"YOU turned Kami down? Why'd ya do that for?!" Both Korin and the fat man asked incredulously.

Gine shrugged emptily. "I just didn't think I would need it."

Korin looked as if she had just spat in his boss's face. "You wouldn't need it? Who do you think you're talking to?! You may be the strongest mom on Earth, but even you could learn a think or two abou-"

"Don't want to hear it." Gine interrupted. She then held out the Power Pole to Korin.

"Could you give this to Kakarot when he comes back down?" She asked.

The fat man looked as stunned as Korin, "Wait! You should never EVER refuse an offer from Kami! That's quite disrespectful! Don't you know anything about-"

Gine glared at the fat man with a look that told him to shut up. It was enough to scare him into dropping the bag of beans he held.

"Don't aggravate her, Yajirobe." Korin said sternly. The fat man, Gine now remembered as Yajirobe, kept his distance behind Korin while he tried to quietly pick up the scattered beans.

Gine held the Pole out to Korin again, clearing her throat as if to ask him to take it. He didn't acknowledge that and simply starred at the Pole in her grip, then looked back up at her.

"I take it that your boy wasn't too happy about your decision?"

Gine sighed through her nose, really not wanting to go through _that_ again.

Korin then asked more carefully, "So, why DID you turn down the training?"

"I don't feel like I need to explain myself." She said harshly.

"Hm. Definitely something that might need explainin' then." He said more to himself than to her.

Gine scoffed. "Look, I just don't want to, okay?! Will you let up about that?! Now are you gonna take this or not?!" She demanded, jutting the Power Pole at Korin angrily.

Korin sighed in defeat, extending his free paw and took it from her.

"Thank you." She said.

Korin nodded, then looked up at her.

"Thank YOU, Gine, for dealing with that smuck, King Piccolo."

Gine groaned as she turned to leave, not bothering with an answer. She wished that everyone would stop thanking her for that. She didn't deserve praise for a screw up.

"Your lack of self-confidence may make you feel like you don't deserve credit, but you don't have to put yourself down so much." Korin suddenly said from behind her.

Gine wheeled around to face him, "My what?!"

"Just sayin' what you were thinkin' is not true. You do deserve credit for fighting Piccolo at least." He said simply.

Gine starred at Korin for a few moments, somehow remembering the telepathic talks she had back at the tournament a few days ago...

She then flipped her arms up in exasperation. "AM I THAT EASY TO READ?!" Gine yelled to no one in particular.

Korin answered for her. "Nah, nothing to read. You're more like a picture, since you leak your feelings everywhere."

Gine glared at Korin, feeling offended and unable to shake off the intrusion into her private thoughts yet somehow everyone can just read them aloud without her control.

"It could be something to improve if you want, Kami knows techniques for psychic protection." Korin said.

"Can you please stop?!" She asked, not liking the idea of him finishing her every thoughts aloud, especially should they go to dark places.

"Sorry." He said quickly, but then continued. "Still, Thank for dealing with Piccolo the way you and your friends did. If it's any comfort, you didn't make that big a mistake when you didn't kill him. In hindsight, it was good that he didn't die."

"I know, I know." Gine said impatiently. "Kami told me already about his connection to Piccolo, that he would've died too."

"Not only that, but the dragonballs would have disappeared as well." Korin added.

Gine looked confused. "Wait, what? Why?"

Korin looked at her for a moment, then chuckled in amusement. "Oh, he didn't tell you? Kami created the dragonballs. They are tied to his lifeforce as well so if he died, they would have turned to stone forever."

Gine was stunned. THAT was something she didn't know. "Wait, Kami created the dragonballs?!"

"Yep, he did."

She tried to comprehend that. How did a Namekian even have the ability to create a being with such power that it could grant any wish someone asked of it? Even to cheat death?! But then the last part of what Korin said got to her.

"So, If I had killed Piccolo, Kami would've died as well and the dragonballs would have ceased to exist?" She said, piecing it all together. To her, she wondered why magic had to be so ridiculously complex with life-death connections and rules.

"That's right." Korin nodded, "So it was a good thing, and good timing, that you didn't kill him when you had the chance, huh?"

Gine nodded slowly, "Yeah... I guess things work out in funny ways sometimes." She said absentmindedly as she thought more of the dragonballs again.

The mere mention of them seemed to reawaken some old questions and fears again, ones she held ever since she learned what those orange orbs were. She was too afraid to ask the questions of what they could do, or if she could even ask if they should do what she longed for. But it frightened her, because of if they could or could not bring back those she had grieved for so long ago. Too afraid of having the slightest chance of seeing her lost firstborn again taken away from her, or if she could bring him back... what would happen then?...

"That's for Kami to answer." Korin said, not missing a beat as if picking up what she was mulling around in her head.

That comment snapped her out of her train of thought, and turned it into indignified anger.

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUISNESS!" She shouted at the mind-reading cat. She felt violated that an outsider could peek into her head about her lost loved ones, and her deepest fears.

Korin, however seemed unfazed at her outburst. "Like I said earlier, if ya wanna keep your thoughts from being exploited like that, you should give Kami a chance. At least to mask all the root causes of all your self-doubt and pain that weigh your spirit down like an anchor until you work those things out on your own. Your fears about what the dragonballs could do though, is a whole other ball of wax that only Kami can help ya with." He added tacidly.

Gine clenched her fists, wanting to go from the not-too-brutal form of strangling this cat to completely curb-stomping him into a bloody mess for the deep invasion of privacy. But she remained calm enough and just shook her head, unable to believe that this cat could help her. "What advice could you possibly even give me on overcoming my 'self-doubts'?"

"Well, for one thing, you shouldn't let other people's words get to you in the heat of battle or in passion, as words have no meaning unless you give them that. And secondly, he might be able to help you address your problems and your self-hatred." He said plainly.

Gine laughed humorlessly. "Easy for you to say, but it wouldn't help with whatever pitiful strength you Earthlings have against our kind. I may be the weakest Saiyan but I could easily pulverize any of you, including Piccolo. Hell, if I wanted to I could destroy this planet!"

"And yet someone weaker than you got the upper hand, shouldn't that tell you that strength isn't everything?"

"I don't need to be lectured by you." Gine said abruptly at that, and grabbed the railings as if ready to jump and fly off back to Mount Paozu.

"You can't run away forever, ya know?" He called out. "You can toss arguments around all you want, but only your own self-loathing and low regard for your own worth will hold you back unless you are willing to confront your own inner demons."

Gine stopped. She turned around and looked at the feline martial arts master with a mix of incredulity and contempt. "And what do _YOU_ know about me that makes you think you can say that about me, aside from reading my mind and not experiencing my life yourself?"

Korin didn't flinch, "I won't pretend to know how you feel, but I've seen a thing or two on how people cope with trauma in their life in my eight hundred years on this Earth."

"Oh? How so?" She asked sarcastically.

"I ain't a therapist, but I know a person who has been put down way too many times by others when I see 'em. That no matter how much stronger someone is, that determined enough bullies could grind those poor soul's spirits down to dust, and make them feel powerless and not worthy of being anything more than a punching bag."

That sounded WAY too familiar too her; and it made Gine remember half a lifetime of hazing she'd rather forget, no matter how dull the passage of time has made it feel.

Korin went on. "And because of those barriers that they make you feel like you have, you basically weigh yourself down with those self-imposed limitations. But if you realize that everything was done just to keep you down, then it should mean that you can get back up and beyond if you will yourself to."

Gine shook her head. "Wouldn't help where I came from. We Saiyans were the strongest beings in the galaxy, yet I had the rotten luck to be born the weakest in a thousand years. It wasn't an opinion, it was a fact that I had come to accept."

"A fact, or something that was just beaten into you quite literally?" He countered.

Gine didn't answer. She didn't need to if Korin knew. She had been beaten to within an inch of her life far too many times to count with her branding thrown in too, called worthless every time. It was her life, aside from getting by and doing the bidding of Frieza's empire. It was just how the way things were when she found herself time and time again against a fellow Saiyan or squads she was unable to defend herself from, fighting helplessly against her own kind who made it their mission to remind her that she was nothing but a disgrace to the Saiyan race.

But she also remembered the times she wasn't so helpless. As defeatist as she was throughout her life, she sometimes felt spurs of rage when they teased her too much or pushed her too far. That she would get back on her feet to put up a fight that would make those bastards hurt. That she wanted to exert her agency on them, that she wasn't a helpless weakling afterall. Those brief moments where she lasted a few more seconds against another low-class warrior were often disregarded as momentary lapses of her senses, that she often forgot once the adrenaline wore away. But in those tiny moments, she felt a spark of happiness that she was not willing to go quietly.

That she was more than what she had been given... But she quickly shook that off.

"Even so, I still am the weakest." She said, trying not to be too reminiscent while Korin could get into her head.

"Why?" Korin asked, sounding slightly pleased at sensing some defiance in Gine's past memories.

"Aside from my pathetic power level..." Gine went on, trying to not get too emotional. "I'm not a great warrior. I never was. I never liked fighting. Sure, play fighting with Kakarot is fun, but I never liked fighting for my life, or for conquest... I just can't stand hurting people unless I had no choice…"

"It's not a crime to be compassionate. In fact it is the greatest attribute of all to show kindness to others if it means to prevent harm, even if its to our enemies..."

She internally snorted at that. Gine had this exact same thing told to her by Gohan. She loved him to death but didn't really care for being compassionate to her enemies if they were unwilling to do the same, that was something she found too naïve and rather sad to be so believed by such great masters of martial arts everywhere. But she somehow thought of Tien and Chiaotzu... how they were once enemies hellbent on killing her son, only to save her life a day later...

"Doesn't work every time, sure. But it's still the right thing to do." Korin said, then paused for a second as if he knew she was processing that information.

"But as for not liking to fight... you don't have to like it if it means giving you the peace of mind that no matter what, you'll at least be ready when trouble comes along."

That sounded very appealing to her. As much as she liked to fight with Gohan and Kakarot, they were just for fun. Her Saiyan instinct for battle was far tamer than anyone else she knew back in the day, that she would only scratch it with the action of fighting but it did not need to be for killing. She could go easy on Gohan and go rough on Kakarot, but she wanted nothing to do with it if the threat of life was in the balance. Even though she took charge in dealing with Piccolo, it was only reluctantly and by the fact that there was no one stronger than her. Back then she thought she could handle it, but after he tricked her, she couldn't stop doubting herself. What if something similar or more sinister happened again?

But still, being able to put down any threat before it can cause trouble would be something Bardock would do. But...

"Even if I wanted to, I'm not strong enough. I can't get stronger anyway. I just told you that I was the weakest Saiyan..."

"Not from what I can tell." Said Korin. "You have such a great amount of potential in you Gine, much like your son. The two of you have the power to become far stronger than you are now if you set your minds to it."

Gine heard those exact words from Roshi just before she left the island. What did it mean?

If Korin saw it too, was it possible?...

"I wish I shared my son's enthusiasm for training, but..." She said, her voice sounding lame to her.

"Why not? You could if you wanted to, all you have to do is make it a goal to become stronger than the strongest and persevere at bettering yourself to that goal, and that is that. Your son is just very happy about doing it, but it makes it all the better."

Deep down, Gine REALLY wanted to believe in that. She so desperately wanted to be like Kakarot. Maybe not as obliviously naïve he could be sometimes, but he never gave up no matter the odds. It reminded her so much of Bardock..

But still, she felt like she couldn't. That with all the pep talking from everyone that she had meet on this godsend haven of a planet, there was nothing that could overcome what was ingrained after two and a half decades of beatings and ridicule and conditioning...

"It is truly unfortunate that you had to go through all that pain, Gine. No one ever should." Korin said, feeling mournful as he sensed the weight her spirit carried from all the collective memories of the oppression against her throughout her life, and casted aside like garbage.

Gine felt his sympathy enter her mind and him feeling her pain, it all made her eyes moisten with tears.

She knew it was pointless to weep over things she couldn't change, and that she had this moment of crushing reality fall on her many times in her past in moments of weakness... but by the gods it wasn't fair to her! She realized. It wasn't fair! And this time, she didn't care if it was pathetic of her to not suck up like she used to. It simply... Wasn't. Fair.

Korin smiled and talked to her gently.

"But all those things that were said and done to you were wrong. It's not your fault you and your son were brought into a world that would treat those that would never fit it's molds so badly, and it's through your homeworld's brutal culture that shaped your mind into thinking that you are not worthy of agency or basic decency."

Those words stringed in that sentence almost didn't compute in Gine's ears. That she should not be held responsible for being weak by birthright? That she didn't have to hate herself for not having a head start that almost all other Saiyans did? It triggered something that Gine have called 'culture shock' in her. It was the way things were, no matter how much she tried to believe otherwise. It just felt so natural to do that, but deep down there was a part of her that did not want her to hate herself anymore.

Korin then said, "And saying that you can't get stronger is complete crap if you ask me. It is actually a universal truth that ALL beings have the potential to become more than what destiny provides. And you just need to realize that all those notions of you being the weakest stem from a lifetime of putdowns, and that you are only holding yourself back because you think you are incapable of bettering yourself. But you can. If you truly commit yourself to train and never give up, no matter how many times you lose a fight, you can prove them wrong and be what you want yourself to be. I mean, wouldn't it be better to at least try, than live in doubt for the rest of your life?"

Gine just stared at Korin, her mind a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions that made her feel like her head would explode.

This was the first time in her life that anyone had ever addressed her feelings directly. Even with how much she trusted Gohan, she only told him some things about her that she felt comfortable enough to talk about when he tried to pick her brains. But she mostly played lip-service to him. Gohan could never truly understand how she would feel as the lowest of any society. He could not feel her pain, her humiliation, her doubts, her fear. Everything that made her the way she was, and the way she ticked.

But with Korin, there was nothing to hide from him. Her mind and spirit were naked to his telepathy. That with it, things she had only kept in her heart were brought into the open for all to see. He could _feel_ her pain and fear. And through it all, he just told her that everything she knew about her place in the universe was wrong. That no, she wasn't some worthless peace of trash that would never amount to anything. That she had the capability, the potential, to be so much more... the idea to her seemed so ludicrous. But it was so wonderful.

She CAN be someone better than she was born to be. That discipline and skill could triumph over strength, and that her own determination to be better was what made or broke her resolve. Could it too good to even be true?

Korin looked up at her with a soft gaze. "You ARE worth something, Gine. You mean the world to your son, and so much to your friends down below on Earth. And we all owe you for saving our planet and our lives, mine included! For someone who could do all that, then you DO have the power to become stronger than you were born to be. It's your willpower and action alone that determines how you become, not someone else's words."

Gine didn't feel angry at answering her mental questions anymore. She was more overrun with that revelation than anything. That words had no power over _her_ actions? She could become better even if all of her comrades and fellow Saiyans of old said she couldn't? It was still hard to believe, but it sounded worlds better than anything Saiyan society could ever offer her.

Korin could sense the potential in Gine. Just like Roshi said to her earlier when they left his island. Was that true? Is it possible she was not worthless afterall? She asked herself again and again, digesting the idea.

She then remembered her conversation from just hours ago with Gohan on Roshi's island...

 _"I always thought I'd never have to get into a fight for my own life again ever since we landed here on Earth. But I was wrong. And even then I thought I was the strongest on the planet, but I couldn't even beat some decrepit old Namekian. The one time I had to step up and defend the only home I've ever known and I failed... even amongst you humans, I'm a useless fighter like I always was." She said, sadly looking out the window into the distance._

 _"That has nothing to do with your self-worth, Gine. By all rights you should never have had to fight someone on this planet as strong as you in the first place."_

 _"That's the problem though." She said seriously. "I was so happy here, that I never wanted to face the reality that everything we had here could be destroyed. And as unlikely as you hoped it would be, Piccolo emerged and nearly killed my own son, then me, and put all of you at risk."_

 _Gohan said nothing, listening intently._

 _"When I had to stand up and defend my new home and everything I held dear, I wasn't ready for what could happen. Piccolo was right that my emotions had gotten the better of me. It may be easy for you to say that I need to keep my mind calm when we are isolated in the woods, sparring. But a life-or-death battle against some world-ending monstrosity that could undo all of my hard work, then none of my anger will be able to help me. So if I couldn't beat Piccolo if he came out of nowhere, what if something worse, or even Frieza, came along and threatened my world again? What then?" She asked, letting that question hang._

 _"You worry too much. Frieza will never find you here, and now that we know about that weakness of yours, we can always explore more ways to not let your enemies get under your skin. It may be difficult but not impossible."_

That one snippet she remembered of her talk with him held everything she needed to address.

Gohan was right. She had to get better at dealing with problems that could come their way, or at least try instead of wallowing in defeatism. She has had enough of it in her life. And if this world was that truly precious to her for giving so much at a second chance at life and happiness, then she should try her damnedest to protect it.

Through all of this, Yajirobe remained quiet as a mouse and observed the two of them talking while he collected the fallen beans as stealthily as he could. Or, at least observe Korin talk to this strange woman that Kakarot told him was his mother while she just stood there and looked on the brink of an emotional breakdown.

He reached down at for the last one in between Korin and Gine's feet.

"Leave it." Korin said, tapping his staff and Yajirobe froze in a jolt like a child caught stealing.

"Eh, sorry." Yajirobe said, and slowly backed away. Gine, through her cloud of mental and emotional changes, eyed the greenish bean curiously.

"What are those, anyway?" She asked Yajirobe, trying to distract herself from the turmoil going on inside her.

"Uh, senzu beans." Yajirobe asked hesitantly.

"Never heard of them." She said.

"Yeah, only Korin grows them. They don't look like much but eating just one give's you about ten days worth of food." Yajirobe explained.

"Huh." She said in mild interest.

"And they can heal your wounds too!" He added, plucking out of the bag and flicking it into the air as if to eat one. But the one that was tossed was quickly swiped away by Korin's staff as he lept up and swung at it in a blur, and it bounced off one of the pillars to land squarely in Korin's open paw.

"Huh? HEY!" Yajirobe exclaimed in displeasure.

"Still not to be wasted in demonstration, thank you!" Korin said angrily to Yajirobe. Then turned to Gine.

"Kid you not, each one takes about a year to grow."

Gine looked at him disbelievingly, "Really?"

"Really." He confirmed curtly, as if to finish that distraction for her to take a mental break from processing their little talk.

Korin padded over to Gine and held the Power Pole she gave him back up at her.

"Why don't you head back up there and give Kami a chance to teach ya a thing or two. What harm could it do, huh? But if you still don't want to go, I understand." He offered. "It's your choice."

Gine eyed the Power Pole in Korin's hand, thinking.

She really appreciated that he was at least offering her the decision still, without judgement. Afterall, she just wanted to go home after such a few days it was, not be stuck in the clouds for three years with her son. Afterall she wanted to be away from him during his growth spurt.

In the last few days she was just supposed to watch a tournament. That turned into a drama of good and evil, followed by the murder of her son's best friend, to a battle for the fate of the world. And now, here she was talking to a mind-reading cat that undid everything planet Vegeta ever did to her psyche since the day she was born. She sometimes wondered if this planet was even real or if she was just dreaming.

On the other hand...maybe this training could help her. She had doubts still, as she had no idea how they would train her mind or prepare for facing things she'd rather forget. Or even if she was too old, that what if her mind and body were too set in their ways at age forty rather than Kakarot, who was so mendable to grow at such a young age?

But Korin was right. So what if everyone from her home planet told her she couldn't be more than what she was, she would at least try. And besides, they weren't here to taunt her anymore, they were long dead. She had friends now. And they all looked up to her. If anything, at least she could defend them and her home better.

 _Could be fun_ , she remembered saying to herself before she set off for the tournament a few days ago before everything else that happened that lead her to here. She mentally shook her head for tempting fate like that, and with thinking of those words again.

 _And what of the dragonballs?_ She remembered.

Korin said that whatever questions she had of their abilities could only be answered by Kami alone. She was afraid of what those answers would be, but Korin's ever wise words came back to her. Wouldn't she at least try to ask than live with not knowing? Or as Gohan used to phrase: nothing ventured, nothing gained?

The possibility that she could unlock with those mysterious orbs if she was brave enough to ask, and the possibility that she could actually amount to something even just a little more than worthless... was an allure she couldn't resist anymore.

She made up her mind, and took the Power Pole from Korin.

"Thank you." She said quietly.

Korin said nothing, but smiled knowingly at her.

Without another word, Gine turned around and leapt out of the cupola of Korin's Tower.

She hovered back up to the roof and landed next to the gold onion dome, and slide the red pole into the slot as Korin showed Kakarot. Then, she clutched it as tight as she could and looked up to the sky with determination in her eyes.

"POWER POLE EXTEND!" She commanded.

The Pole momentarily glowed, and she felt the roof of the Tower sweep away from beneath her feet.

Gine held on for dear life, wrapping her legs and tail around the Pole as it made its way back up to the Lookout.

She willed herself not to look down, but to keep her eyes forward.

With that, it became something she resolved to do. That no matter what, she was going to set her sights on what she could be in the future. That the Gine of old, that had been reduced to nothing but an outcast filled with nothing but self-pity, was not going to be her anymore. Not if she could help it. She had been living in doubt and self-loathing for far too long. Now it was time for her to make a change for the better. To make herself what she wanted to be.

If she tried hard enough, she could be like her son. She could be strong, she could be a decent warrior. She could even dare to be better than him someday. It was an audacious thought, but she never knew how to set an ultimate goal before. But it seemed a grand enough aspiration for her.

In that moment, she wished Bardock was here...and Raditz...

And with that thought too, she was even more afraid of what she was going to ask once she got back up there...

* * *

After another trip through the sky without storms, Gine reached the Lookout again. Without looking down and with great swiftness, she found the rungs of the ladder and made her way up the bowl-shaped bottom of the floating temple.

She reached the rim and peeked over.

Near the center of the tiled platform, she could see the forms of Kami and Mr. Popo watching over the unmistakably orange clad figure of her son, sitting cross-legged on the floor with his back to her.

Gine hauled herself up the last rungs and onto the tiles, then walked towards their direction. From her vantage point, it looked like Kakarot was meditating.

"Well, Kakarot, it's to make good on my promise. Now the first thing I want you to do is..." Kami was saying, before he stopped as he noticed Gine. He didn't seem too surprised to see her again, but there was a trace of a hopeful smile on his face.

"Huh?" Kakarot said, opening one eye in confusion as to why his new master stopped talking to him.

He followed Kami's gaze to behind him, and gasped. "Mom?!" He exclaimed.

"You're back." Kami stated.

Gine nodded, "Yep."

She stopped just short of a few meters in front of Kakarot as he got up and starred at her.

Mother and son regarded each other for a few long, silent seconds.

"Kakarot..." Gine started. "...I just want to say-"

"YOU'RE BACK!" Her son squealed in joy as he threw himself at her. She caught him in time but the flinging of himself at her almost knocked her over.

"I love you so much, Mom!" He half said/half cried into her chest as he hugged her tightly.

Gine felt her heart fill with warmth and relief at his words. She was so afraid that he never wanted to talk to her again after what happened just not too long ago. But she forgot just how big and kind her son's heart was. That he never held ill to anyone, least of all the one he looked up to most in the world.

"I love you so much too, sweetheart." She said back to him, holding him closely too. They stayed that way for a good long moment before Gine set him back down.

"Are you back to train with me?" He asked hopefully, but with a hint of reservation.

Gine regarded him sadly, remembering how their last talk went. But she replaced that with remembering her talk with Korin.

She rested her hands on his shoulders and smiled at him. "Well, does Kami's offer still stand?" She said, before looking towards the Guardian of the Earth.

"Of course." He said with an actual smile. Kakarot's face looked as if he was about to burst in excitement when she said what he hoped to hear.

And she did, "Then yes I am, sweetie."

"ALRIGHT!" Kakarot practically leapt into the air and landed in his mother's grasp again in a fit of giggling joy. Seeing him so happy like this was one of the few things that made Gine feel so fortunate, and she laughed with him too. She didn't know why, but her son's laughter could be contagious with her.

After their little celebration together, Gine set Kakarot back down on the ground again. The laughter he shared with her making her feel more at calm already, and it made what she had to say much easier.

"Sweetheart..." Gine said as she knelt down to his eye level, "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for pushing you like that."

"Aw, it's okay Mom. You didn't even hurt me." He told her.

Gine smiled at how her son could forgive and forget so easily even if no physical damage happened. "It was still wrong of me to be mean to you, and I'm sorry." She said with a twinge of regret in her voice.

Kakarot shook his head though, "No, I'M sorry Mom. Kami told me that it isn't right to make people do things they don't want to do, even if it's something I like real much, like training. So I should have respected your choice to leave if you wanted to."

Gine could almost burst into tears of joy at hearing her son say those very words from his mouth. But she wasn't going to. She was very proud that her son had finally understood what she was trying to teach him all these years. And so she let him know that.

"I'm so proud of you to hear you say that, Kakarot." She said, stroking his cheek.

"Aw, shucks." Kakarot said, half embarrassed and twiddling his feet. "So, what made you change your mind?"

Gine thought for a moment, and decide to just sum it up truthfully without diving back into all the painful details. "Well, Korin and I had a little talk. And I guess, maybe I could learn something afterall."

"Oh, well that's good I think!" He said with an open smile, not pushing for more details of how she changed her mind. "There's always something to learn." He added.

"Aint that the truth." She said, half to herself over everything that happened back down at Korin's and how her son had accepted something she wanted so badly. "Like learning how you could be so surprisingly smart sometimes."

"Well, it took me awhile to realize that I shouldn't force my wants on others, but Kami's a great teacher." Kakarot said, pointing towards the Namekian.

Gine chuckled lightly for the first time that day. "I bet he is. An hour up here and he taught you something I've been trying to teach you for years."

"Your son is quite a quick learner, Gine." Kami said.

"Well, whatever you did, you did good." She said as she stood back up to face Kami and Mr. Popo again. "And if it's alright with you, I would like for you to teach me everything you know like my son here."

Kami nodded. "That can be done. Are you prepared to stay here for the next three years also and do all that is necessary to pass the training?"

Gine though for a couple moments, then nodded solemnly. "Yes."

"Very well then. We can start today if you wish and pick up where your son had just left off on meditation. Or you can start tomorrow with sparring against Mr. Popo here."

Gine looked at the dark-skinned demigod, then back at Kami. She thought of just asking if she could turn in after all the events that happened today with Piccolo...

But then there was the nagging questions in the back of her mind that popped up with Korin.

She took a breath, willing herself to speak the words. She may not get another chance to pluck up the courage within to ask again. So she must. And a part of her was scared at how she'd react, that her questions answered wouldn't tear up whatever friendship she and Kami had now that she agreed to training after such a life-altering talk with Korin. These questions could destroy her own heart too, but she has to ask.

"Actually, before we start anything, there's something I've been wanting to ask you."

That perked Kami's interest. "Is that so? What did you want to ask?"

Gine looked Kami in the eye. "Tell me about the dragonballs."

* * *

 **A/N: There we go! Hopefully I go the flow of this one right as I had in my head and changed many times over the months I had it written down as a rough draft!**

 **But anyways, Now Gine has made up her mind and is about to ask some questions about the dragonballs that could have consequences for our characters. Find out what happens on the next installment!**

 **Til next time!**


	18. CHAPTER 17: PAINFUL QUESTIONS

****Hello again! :) Glad to see I've been able to keep at this story on a regular enough basis to publish these chapters despite how long they are! (They are bricks, I know, but I feel like this is the best way to tell this kind of story with Gine's POV and emotional/mental journey.)****

 ** **Also, thank you all so much for your feedback in your reviews. I take each piece of constructive criticism seriously and will make whatever changes I feel is appropriate to make the story more coherent with consistent details and grammar. So again, thank you all.****

 ** **On a more serious note, with the COVID-19 pandemic going on right now, I have had some more time to write this but also be aware that with the nature of the job I work at, I could be at a higher risk of contracting the virus so if I don't post for sometime, I may be too busy or too sick, so please be patient with me. Also, please practice safe distancing, self-quarantining if you are sick, and good hygienics so we can all get through this together!****

 ** **So without further delay, now we are at a chapter I have been rather eager to get to.****

 ** **Now that Gine has agreed to train Kami with her son, she has some rather pressing things she wants to ask the Guardian of the Earth first. How will this conversation go down? And could it have dramatic effects for this timeline?****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 17: PAINFUL QUESTIONS

"The dragonballs?" Kami repeated.

Gine nodded. "Yes. Korin said you created them, and I was curious about just what they really are and what they could _actually_ do."

Kakarot looked at his mom, then at Kami with wide eyes.

"YOU created the dragonballs, Kami?" He asked incredulously.

"Yes, that is true." Kami answered. "I created the Eternal Dragon Shenron with the ability to grant wishes."

"WHOA! No way!" Kakarot looked at the Guardian with new eyes.

Gine looked at her son. "You didn't know?"

"No, I didn't!" Kakarot said.

"Huh." Gine replied. No one asked, she figured.

She then turned back to Kami, thinking of her first query. "So, why did you create them?"

Kami took his time answering, looking somewhat forlorn.

"When I first created the dragonballs, I did so in order to encourage acts of bravery and give the people of Earth a sense of hope. But soon I learned that the hearts of men are easily corrupted. With the prospect of having their greatest desires come true now at their fingertips, people from individuals to entire governments began killing each other in order to obtain the dragon balls. Their greed and lust for power turned my noble, pure endeavor into one of evil and in turn brought out the worst in humanity."

Gine felt bad for him, not realizing this was an immense source of pain the Namekian held. She imagined if she created something that she wanted to be used for good only brought destruction, it would've been a guilt Gine couldn't bear.

But Kami turned hopeful. "However, with you and your son's efforts to stop those who sought evil wishes and used it for saving the lives of fallen friends and strangers, you both changed my mind. I was beginning to believe that all people were greedy and dishonorable but, you've shown me that there _are_ people that have kind and untainted minds and hearts."

She smiled warmly at the sentiment. Gine felt so proud that her son had brought joy and hope to the people of Earth in some degree. Such a thing would have been unheard of on Vegeta, but she was glad of it.

But she pressed on with her questions. "So, is it true that they can grant _any_ wish your heart desires? Or..." She didn't finish, partially out of fear of making what she would say become truth.

But Kami answered. "Not entirely, Gine. For the Eternal Dragon's power is limited by my own strength in my magical abilities as well as rules set in place so as to make sure that the dragonballs are not abused."

"Like what kind of limits?" She asked hesitantly.

"Well, aside from having to turn to stone for a year after one wish is granted, there are some feats that Shenron cannot do such as logical paradoxes, like creating something he cannot move or a cube made of sleep, or things of the like."

Gine nodded, kind of already figuring something like that would be impossible. But it raised some theological questions that she pushed aside for the moment.

"But, he could bring back anyone from the dead, correct?" Gine said.

"Yes, he can. To a degree."

Gine raised a worried eyebrow. "To a degree?"

"Yes. There are three main stipulations of resurrecting the deceased by Shenron. First, is that they can only be resurrected once, and if they were to die yet again, they will stay dead. Second, is that they cannot be resurrected if they died of natural causes, such as old age or disease. If they died of unnatural or untimely means such as murder or by accident, then they would be eligible."

Gine and Kakarot listened intently, Gine nervous about the final clause.

"And lastly, the deceased persons you wish to resurrect must not have been dead for more than three-hundred-and-sixty-five Earth days, for beyond that, their deaths are to remain permanent."

Gine's heart felt like it turned into an iron weight. She somehow knew her questions would yield an answer she didn't want to hear, but it still hurt.

She was too late. Fifteen years too late.

"Why do you ask, anyway?" said Kami.

Gine shrugged her shoulders absent-mindedly. "No one ever told me what the dragonballs could or couldn't do."

"Huh, come to think of it, that never came up in any of my travels either I guess." Kakarot thought out loud.

Gine nodded at Kakarot's addition to their discussion, impressed by his insight as well. It would have been a staggering coincidence if that never happened, but life had strange things happen.

Her starring at Kakarot turned mournful, as she thought of his older brother. If he were still alive, he'd be twenty-one now...

"You have someone you wish to bring back to life, don't you?" Kami said more as a gentle observation than a question.

Gine nodded slowly, trying not to let those long-buried emotions resurface too quickly. "Yes. Another Saiyan by the name of Bardock, who was my partner and the father of Kakarot... and of my firstborn son too."

Kakarot turned to her. "You mean Raditz?" He asked, expectantly. As long as he had known his mother, she told him of his father plenty of times. But she rarely spoke of his long lost brother. Now, putting two and two together with what she was asking of the dragonballs, he had a feeling that something dramatic and life changing was about to happen.

"That's right sweetie." Gine smiled sadly, "Your older brother, Raditz."

Kami looked at her with sympathy in his eyes, for this surely was a more delicate subject to discuss than he thought. "If I may ask, how did they die?"

Gine opened her mouth, but no words came out. Instead, she felt a lump form in her throat and her vision flood with tears. Kami looked like he was mentally kicking himself for asking.

"I apologize if my question was too straightfor-"

"NO! No, it's okay." She stopped him, trying to reassure the Guardian of the Earth while she wiped her tears away with her sleeve.

"It's just...it's been over a decade since I spoke of this to anyone." Gine said, trying to force the words out.

Kakarot wordlessly walked over to his mother and hugged her. "It's okay, Mom. You don't have to if you don't want to."

Gine's resolve not to cry almost cracked at the heartwarming display of comfort that her son was trying to give her, and remembering how he had learned to accept her wanting to make her own decisions about training. Now he was extending it to her own emotional well-being with things she had long locked away in her heart. He always surprised her one way or another.

With how short he was as he came up to her hip, he was only able wrap his arms around her waist. But he made her feel that nothing could harm her.

"Thank you so much, sweetheart." Gine said gratefully as she ruffled her son's wild hair with her free hand, a smile appearing on her face.

"But I feel like I must, or I never will..." She said quietly. The barrier that kept her from saying what she needed to faded. But only so.

She looked back at Kami and willed herself to talk. "They died when our home planet was blown up by a galactic tyrant whom we Saiyans had long served."

Both Kami and Mr. Popo, god and demigod alike that know all the strangest secrets of the Earth below, were shocked.

"Your _entire_ planet was obliterated by this one ruler that you served?" Kami asked, wrapping his head around that concept.

Gine nodded, "Yes. His name was Frieza, supreme ruler of the known galaxy and Lord of the Planet Trade Organization."

"Frieza..." Kami said the name that Gine had grown to loathe over the years.

"...I think I might have heard that name once."

That got Gine's attention. "Really? How?"

"From Otherworld I believe it was." Kami answered. "For my ultimate superior above me, King Yemma, has grumbled once or twice about an evil dictator with that name was sending entire worlds-full of souls into his office to process and cluttering up his work. I always assumed it was some nickname for an ice-age type calamity on some other world, but never gave it much thought as Earth was my only jurisdiction." Kami answered.

Gine felt like she had more questions than answers now. There were higher gods above Kami's stature? Frieza was still out there conquering planets? And what was Otherworld?

She didn't feel entirely comfortable asking more about those things. Maybe she thought it was some primitive corner in her Saiyan mind for the fear of the unknown, or that she did not want to open up another "can of worms" as Gohan would say. So she decided to stay on topic.

"That's the one. He was a ruthless emperor that has conquered a great portion of the galaxy, capturing tens of thousands of worlds to rule over or sell by using their resources to further expand his empire. He would either enslave the peoples of those worlds, or just slaughter them all... and we in the Saiyan race served him as his most loyal and elite warriors that carried out his bidding like that."

Gine then halted before recounting the next bit. "Then one day, I'm still not sure why but he turned against us. Bardock had somehow found out about his intentions to kill all Saiyans, and had warned me to get Kakarot away from our planet. At the last moment, I decided to come with Kakarot to protect him while his father went to confront Frieza himself..."

All was quiet until she continued. "The last thing I saw as our spacecraft left our star system was our planet exploding... and I could no longer feel the life forces of either Bardock or Raditz..." She stopped, letting tears fall freely down her cheeks.

"Frieza had destroyed our home planet and everyone on it before my very eyes. And as far as I know... me and my youngest son here are the only survivors." She said, anger laced in her croaking voice.

She had only told the full story to Gohan and nobody else. The rest of the gang was from Kakarot, but she never had to tell it again since the day Gohan found them. She didn't realize that even after almost fifteen years later, and no matter how many times she recounted and relived it in her mind, it still hurt to even say it aloud.

Kami however was almost agape in shock. The idea that there existed beings powerful and evil enough to commit atrocities on such a scale that made the quarrels of Earth seem tame was unfathomable to him. As much as he kept an eye on these two since they fell from outer space, he was still unprepared for the reality of extraterrestrial life. But something as horrific as Frieza was utterly terrifying to him.

"This Frieza... if he was truly intent on eradicating your species, he hasn't tried to come looking for you hasn't he?" Kami asked, out of grave concern for his planet that he may have invited it's destroyers afterall.

Gine shook her head. "No, as far as I know he is unaware that we are here. For I chose this planet during our escape since it was in a remote and uncharted part of the galaxy according to the Planet Trade Organization. And I hope it stays that way." She said, worried that she might have frightened Kami beyond his wits.

In truth it frightened her too, as it was a foregone conclusion that Frieza was very likely still out there. And there was a chance he could still be looking to kill them all.

"Right." Kami said, trying to not think of the sickening implications of the genocidal galactic overlord and tried to keep with the topic at hand.

"So my guess is that you wish to resurrect your long lost lover and your eldest son. Correct?"

Gine nodded, a tiny sliver of hope in her heart but she also tried to prepare herself for the answer that she knew would come.

Kami sighed. "I'm so very sorry about everything you had experienced with the loss of your world and family, Gine. But I'm afraid that what you are asking cannot be done."

Gine lowered her head, unable to look at him or Kakarot.

"In accordance with the third stipulation of the Shenron's power, they had been dead for well over one year." Kami re-iterated, which Gine found too redundant. But then Kami added, "And even if Shenron could bring them back..."

Gine's head shot up to him at that mention of mere-possibility.

Kami continued. "Even if they could be resurrected, it must be known that those who are resuscitated by Shenron are returned to the physical location where their souls left their mortal shells into the next realm. So if you were to call upon Shenron and wish them back to life, your partner and eldest son would be brought back to life where they died. In this case, most likely where your home planet once was."

Gine looked at Kami with her lower lip trembling. She knew what he meant.

If she brought them back with the dragonballs, Bardock and Raditz would reappear in the vacuum of space amongst the debris field of what was once planet Vegeta. Only to die a second time anyway. Cold, alone, confused, and frightened. Gasping for non-existent air in the darkness of space until their lungs burst, on the other side of the galaxy from her.

What kind of cruel fate would that even be for her to bestow upon them, to be brought back and just killed again? She couldn't stomach that thought.

Gine's legs buckled, and she slowly fell to her knees. Her face fell into her hands, crying hard and choking between sobs.

"Mom!" Kakarot yelled as he held his mother gently while she wept. Kami felt her pain and couldn't stand to look at her fallen form.

They were gone. Truly gone for good without a doubt or chance to be brought back.

She wasn't just sad though, she was angry. Angry at having to basically grieve for her family all over again. Angry at herself for failing them, angry at the dragonballs for having limits, angry at Frieza for killing them in the first place. Damn him! DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!

"There is another way to bring them back, though." Kami suddenly said.

Gine didn't register his words at first, but her sobbing slowed quickly and she looked up at him with tear-streaked eyes.

"What?!" She asked incredulously, not daring to believe in the hope she heard.

"My powers as Guardian and the creator of Shenron can not bring the ones you love back to the world of the living, I'm afraid." Kami elaborated. "But I could see if their souls could be arranged to visit the world of the living for but a short amount of time."

This was even more for the grief-stricken Gine to take in.

"Wait, their souls?" She asked.

"Yes. For the souls of the dead reside in Otherworld once their physical bodies die. And Otherworld is a place that houses the souls of all beings who had ever lived, so I'm sure your partner and son would be there to. And if I could persuade the right people, I could _maybe_ bring them to you."

Gine was agape in shock this time. So this Otherworld was a sort of afterlife? That there was something beyond death afterall? That Kami could have access to this realm and make her wish to visit the dead come true?

Kakarot looked confused. "Wait a sec, if you created Shenron then how come you can't bring people back to life like he can?"

Gine looked at her son angrily, not liking his distracting tangent of a question. But she had to admit it was a good one.

Kami answered regardless. "I myself, do not have the power to resurrect the dead and the only being with that power is Shenron, the Eternal Dragon. That is correct, Kakarot. He has the magic that I was able to bestow upon him when I first created him. But it was a process that nearly costed not only my life but my own soul. For bringing people back to life is a magical act that violates the laws of nature. Although magic can allow you to do great things, it can only be used carefully for if it does too much, there could be dire consequences for the fabric of reality itself. So that is why if the dragon has the ability of resurrection, it must have limits."

"Huh..." Kakarot said, not entirely sure if he comprehended the Namekian's answer. But to Gine, she got back on track.

"So, you can bring their souls back, but not their bodies? How does that work?" She asked Kami.

"One of my duties as Guardian of the Earth is to ferry souls to Otherworld when people die. In some very special circumstances, it could be arranged to bring someone from Otherworld back to Earth to visit for one day, but for one day only."

Gine didn't know what to make of that. Only one day? To see her eldest son and Bardock?

"Why only one day?" She asked Kami.

"It's part of the rules of how this world and Otherworld can interact with one another. If the souls of visitors remain for too long, their essences would dissipate and become wondering spirits that will never be able to rest in peace again. So they can only visit the physical world for twenty-four hours."

"That isn't much..." She said quietly.

Kami nodded. "It is more for the living than the dead, to say what needs to be said. I'm sorry Gine, but those are the rules."

Gine didn't like that answer. But, she quickly let her anger dissipate. He was offering her a chance to see her lost family, which would have been nothing more than a fantasy had the dragonballs not existed. So she felt like she couldn't complain too much.

"I understand." She nodded solemnly. This was too bittersweet for her. She wanted to see them again, but she wanted them _back_. But, with however impossible this whole situation was, she would have to be content to just see them again...

"So how do we go about doing that?" She asked. Already in her mind she was thinking of the thousands of things she wanted to say, to ask. But most of all, to tell them that she and Kakarot were fine...and she loved them.

Kami thought for a moment. "Well, to see if we can do that, we'd have to talk to Fortuneteller Baba."

"You rang?" Came a voice behind Gine.

She nearly jumped out of her skin at the shock, whipping around and ready to strike whoever snuck up behind her.

The tiny old woman with a pointy hat recoiled from Gine almost swiping her off the floating glass orb.

"Don't be so jumpy! I'm not here to hurt you." Said the old lady. Gine tried to slow her heart down at realizing she wasn't a threat.

"Baba! What are you doing here?" Asked Kakarot.

Gine eyed her son. He knew who this was?

The old lady eyed the boy and Gine. "Heard my name being mentioned in trying to ferry someone from Otherworld, is this not true?"

"Yes it is true, Baba." Said Kami. Gine eyed him and then back to 'Baba'.

"And whom do I owe the pleasure to bring back to the world of the living?" Baba asked them all.

Gine cleared her throat to speak. The floating old woman turned to her, threading her hands together and looked at Gine studiously. She found Baba's gaze unsettling and soul piercing, but she went on with her request.

"I- uh... Fortuneteller Baba, right?" Gine asked.

"Last I checked, that was me." Baba said deadpan.

Gine didn't care for her wits, and got to the point. "Kami said that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to bring someone back from the dead for one day."

"That's right." Baba nodded. "And I understand that you wish to bring back your eldest child and the father of your children?"

Gine was shocked. "Wait, how did you know that already?"

Baba looked at her seriously, "I'm a fortuneteller, dummy. I have the power of divination, which means I can see all events that are happening in this world and others, and events that have happened, and will happen."

Oh. Gine thought. From gods to Namekians, talking cats and now clairvoyants, this day kept getting weirder and weirder. But she faintly remembered Bardock for a moment, and how he told he could see the future...and how their world would end...

"And I foresaw this moment where you wanted to ask me on guidance from Kami on how to bring your deceased loved ones back to life."

Gine nodded desperately. "Yeah, that's right. Bardock and Raditz."

Baba looked at Gine for a long moment, then breathed a heavy sigh.

"Sadly, I'm sorry to tell you this as well, but even a temporary visit would be impossible."

Kakarot slumped his shoulders at hearing that. He was as saddened as his mother was that they were somehow destined to never have the chance to meet his extended family afterall. But he eyed Gine, as her tail frayed upright. And that made him curiously uneasy as he knew that usually happened when his mother was angry.

"Why can't you bring their souls back?" Gine asked hoarsely. She was feeling the grief and angry overtaking her again, but there was something in that anger that felt far more threatening.

"Because their souls were lost in limbo." Baba stated matter-of-factly.

"Huh? What's limbo?" Kakarot asked, taking momentary glances between Baba and his mother.

"Limbo is a place where souls of the dead who were not ferried to Otherworld by a Guardian go to. Once they are there for a long enough time, they vanish into the ether and no force in existence can undo that." Baba explained.

"But why would Bardock and Raditz be lost in there?! How do you lose a soul?!" Gine asked louder than she realized, tears falling freely.

Kakarot's gaze to her looked concerned, and even Kami noticed. Baba seemed unfazed however, and calmly answered.

"For the Guardian of your home world, Vegeta, was most likely killed when this 'Frieza' destroyed your planet. And as Kami has explained to you his duties for ferrying souls once people died on Earth, this Guardian had the same job. And if that Guardian was killed, then all who perished on your world would be sent into a cold oblivion for eternity."

Gine didn't know what to think or feel now, only a tidal wave of weeping washed over her. Her family, everything she had ever known and cared about from her old live save Kakarot, was taken from her a third time! How could fate even do this to her?! It felt like the pain in her chest was so unbearable, that her heart would implode on itself.

She felt her throat clench hard, as she began to sob uncontrollably in hiccups. She held her face in her hands which she balled into fists.

But slowly, her grief turned to rage. She had wasted almost fifteen years of her life not knowing what those stupid little orange balls could do, and she never had the curiosity to just ask what they were ever since she first set her eyes on the Gohan had from day one. Why didn't she go looking for them sooner? How could she fail her partner and son?! And how could these useless idiots dare to even give her false hope that they could've brought them back only to rip her heart out like tearing open an old wound?! Even after she just helped save their damn planet for them?!

"I'm so sorry, Gine. But your eldest son and partner are truly gone forever." Baba said, trying not too hard to sound gentle.

Something inside Gine felt boiling hot, that the rage from all her grief and false hopes had been simmering and threatened to overflow. But Baba's shallow condolences somehow made it spill over.

She eyed the fortuneteller with fire in her eyes.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT!" Gine yelled, the energy from her own screaming forced Baba back.

A faint aura of ki emanated from Gine as she shouted at poor Baba, and shook the tiles of where she stood. Kakarot jumped back in surprise. He had never seen his mother this angry. And it frightened him.

"How dare you say sorry after dangling the idea you could even bring them back and then tell me you couldn't! Like I need to be reminded that I lost my family all over again?! DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO BE TOLD YOUR CHILD IS DEAD A SECOND TIME?! HOW IS THAT EVEN POSSIBLE?!"

"Gine, calm down!" Kami said, half commanding and half urgently as Popo stood protectively by his master's side. She didn't even hear him.

Baba glared at Gine defensively, "Hey, don't get angry at me! I don't make the rules, alright?!"

Gine gritted her teeth hard, her balled fists twitching. She wanted to punch this stupid old prune into the tiles with all her might for breaking her heart like this and waving those goddamned rules like an excuse. How dare they take a small hope she had and dashed it to ribbons like it was some cruel joke. How could they even-

"MOM, PLEASE!" Kakarot yelled, stepping between her and Baba. "It's not her fault!"

Gine eyed her son with fire too, enraged that her own surviving son dared to side with this Baba. And she for a moment wanted to stomp him to death too.

Kakarot raised his hands to defend himself, his eyes pleading but fearful.

She gasped in horror, the aura and energy fading. Her lip trembled and her eyes shrunk on the face of her frightened son. She saw how he looked at her, afraid that she would even hurt him out of anger. And she realized she had actually considered doing just that to her own son out of blind rage, the only thing she had in the universe that she fought and struggled for. And to top it all off, he was right. Her anger was unwarranted, that she couldn't do anything about Bardock or Raditz if these simple Earthling deities had no power to do anything about.

All that rage suddenly turned towards herself. For acting so horribly, for even daring to consider harming her only son, for failing her family, and Frieza for putting her through this in the first place. Again.

Damn it all to hell.

She fell to her knees and screamed at the sky with all the force her lungs would allow at this altitude in a loud and agonizing wail of despair that could be heard for miles in all directions. Accompanied by a powerful wave of wind and energy that was released from her screaming that shook the entire Lookout. Then she slammed her fists into the white tiled floor, shattering them like glass.

Gine lay on her knees with her fists and face buried in the rubble of the square tiles, sobbing even harder than before. The pain felt so powerful and overwhelming that she wished she could just fade away. Anything to make it go away and make her at peace again.

In the next moment, Gine got her wish as she rolled limply onto her side and everything in Gine's vision was blotted out by darkness as exhaustion finally drained the last bit of her consciousness. And slipped into merciful fainting.

* * *

 _"What in the world was that?!" She heard through the fog in her mind._

 _Where was she again? She couldn't remember. But she vague recalled...what, again?_

 _Her mind reached out to any details that floated around in the grey haze that was her consciousness, desperate to get it's bearings._

 _"I've never seen such raw power before..." Said another voice. It sounded different to her than the last one she heard, but didn't know why._

 _"She's passed out." Came another. Gine still didn't know what those voices were._

 _"Oh, Baba! Why'd you have to make my Mom cry like that?!" Came his voice. A voice she felt like she ought to recognize._

 _Wait, her name was Gine, wasn't it?_

 _"Oh, Mom, I'm so sorry." Came his voice again._

 _"Let's get her inside, shall we?" Said another, but she was focused on his voice only. Even as she felt other sensations like being lifted, all that mattered was that she knew it was his voice. Her son's voice._

 _Kakarot's voice._

 _That yes, she was Gine. But...where was she?_

 _Her mind decided to give up on answering that question and she was swallowed by the darkness yet again._

...

Gine woke slowly, her eyes twitching open and adjusting to the dark blue color of the concave ceiling she was looking up at.

She felt comfortably cool wherever she was laying... and her eyes opened wide when she realized the ceiling she was starring at wasn't part of her room back at Mount Paozu. Or the hotel back at the tournament, or the spare room at Roshi's house...

"Mom, you're awake!" Came Kakarot's familiar voice. She sat up to see him and Kami standing at the foot of the bed she was in. Mr. Popo stood behind them at the entrance to whatever this room was.

Gine looked around, confused. "Where am I?"

"You are in a guest quarters for the Lookout." Kami answered. "You've been out for an entire day."

"I slept for an entire day?!" Gine said in shock.

"Yep. You were very tired." Kakarot answered, still looking concerned.

Gine digested that information while she took in the room she was in, or more accurately it was an open pillared cupola not unlike Korin's far down below. The adjacent gold-onion domed temple being the main building of the Lookout. She admired the beautiful carvings on the ground and the comfortable single bed she lay in with another just like it off to one side. The sheets were cold and the lighting was dimmer on her eyes compared to the white glare of the tiled grounds. She also saw it was fast approaching evening outside.

Her throat was parched, but on her beside was a large glass of water which she drank with great thanks in a single gulp.

Despite being told that she was asleep for over a day, she still felt so tired and a dull ache held her entire body in stiffness... and a numb emptiness filled her spirit.

"Do you remember what happened?" Kami asked cautiously.

Her expression turned to that of regret and sorrow as her memory came back to her. How that Bardock and Raditz are lost for good, how she snapped at Baba, and her son...

She looked up at Kakarot looking at her with his caring eyes. But she remembered how he looked at her yesterday.

"I'm so sorry." She said, her voice choking. Her eyes stung as they were too red and dry for shedding tears anymore, but the pain was all the same.

"No, No! Mom, it's okay!" Kakarot said worryingly, rushing to his mothers side by the bed and placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No, it's not okay." Gine said, shaking her head while not looking at anything in particular. "I was so upset that I got angry, and nearly did something terrible!"

"That's all you were though, upset. I know you meant no harm, you just weren't thinking clearly." Kakarot said soothingly.

That didn't take away the immense guilt Gine felt, if not made it worse for the fact that she almost did mean him harm, even if by accident. But her son's kind words still helped ease her numbness. At least to her, he was okay.

"Your son is right, Gine. What you went through was far more than any grieving mother should ever have to endure. It's understandable if you snapped slightly."

Gine looked at the Guardian, briefly smiling at how he absurdly described her emotional breakdown as "slight". But he understood the pain she was going though, then quickly soured again when she remembered what she did.

"I-I'm sorry that I was so disrespectful to you or..." She tried to say, getting the name past the lump in her throat. "Baba."

She continued. "And for causing damage to the Lookout."

Kami looked away, slightly annoyed at how that yes indeed this holy ground was desiccated and damaged.

Gine's face fell further. "I understand if you want me to leave if what I did was unforgiveable."

Kami shook his head vigorously. "Absolutely not, Gine. You may have smashed a few tiles, but those are replaceable...mostly." He said, eying Popo apologetically before turning back to Gine.

"But no harm was done to anyone. And you can stay here if you still wish to train with your son."

Gine looked up at Kami. "Really?"

"Absolutely, I see no reason why not. In fact I would highly recommend it as you have quite a power within you."

"I do?" She said incredulously.

Kami nodded. "I'm not sure if you remember from being as upset as you were, but you released more energy than any living being than I had ever seen. But I could sense it was too powerful for you to control and caused you to black out."

"Yeah, I saw it too!" Kakarot chimed in. "You were so strong it was almost scary!"

He had a big excited smile on his face despite the terror he must have felt during that episode. But Gine figured he saw past that and saw what lay within her.

Gine turned back to the Guardian in amazement.

She still didn't think she had power that would amount to anything more than low-class back on Vegeta, and that these Earthlings had never seen anything of the like to begin with. But... a part of her remembered what Korin said not too long ago far back down at his tower. That after a lifetime of psychological abuse that she may have more than she realized. As much of a new concept as that was to her, she wanted to believe it. Even if it just meant she wasn't the lowest of the low.

Could this be proof that was indeed true? That she had actual power that she never knew she had?

"If you stay, we could teach you how to get stronger with it, and to control it with facing your fears and inner demons. I know it may seem arduous, but you have the potential to become so much more. And it may be of help to ease your heart on these things that have plagued you for so long."

Gine thought long and hard, hearing that word 'potential' again. She's heard it so much now. From Gohan, from Roshi, from Korin, and now from Kami and her own son...

Was it really true? Did she really have some untold power within?

She then turned to Kakarot. He looked back at her hopefully.

"You still wanna do this, Mom?"

Although she was numb through and through from the emotional ordeal that just happened, she still smiled slightly.

"Sure, count me in."

Kakarot smiled too. He didn't jump ecstatically like he used too, but he was as happy as ever that his mother would train with him afterall.

"I can't wait!" Was all he said, and all he needed to say.

"Then let your mother rest first, Kakarot." Kami ordered gently, then looked at Gine.

"Rest for as long as you need to, Gine. I understand that yesterday has been a trying day for you, so we can start whenever you feel ready."

Gine nodded in deep gratitude. "Thank you."

"Very well then, I'll leave you be." Kami said as he turned and left the room with Popo following behind.

Gine sat there with her hands in her lap, trying to process everything that had just happened. She heard Kakarot yawn as he climbed into the other cot beside hers.

"Hey, Mom?" He spoke.

Gine looked over to her son, who sat cross-legged on the mattress and looking at her with sadness in his eyes.

"I'm sorry about father and Raditz..." He said mournfully. "I really wanted to meet them too."

Gine felt her lips tighten and her heart ping in pain. How could she forget that her son felt the loss as much as she did, even if he handled it far better than she did. Only she cynically told herself that he never knew them, but his kind-heart ached to learn about his birthright too.

"I know, sweetie." She said softly as she reached over to him and ran her fingers though his hair. Even though she felt too tired to cry, she suddenly felt the guilt just as strong and let out her words more freely.

"And I'm sorry I almost hurt you."

Her son was far too kind, and just shrugged it off. "It's okay, I know you never mean too."

Gine shook her head. "No, Kakarot, that's the thing. I meant to. I was so angry when you got in the way, that I wanted to hurt you. Oh gods, sweetie, I'm so sorry!" She said as she extended both arms and hugged her son tightly which he obligately returned.

"I love you so much sweetheart. You are all I have left in the universe now, and I would never forgive myself if I hurt you out of anger. I'd rather die." She choked out, her eyes somehow finding the moisture to shed tears again after long since running dry.

"I know, I know, Mom." Kakarot said, patting her back out of worry that his mother might be losing her sanity.

"And I think Kami might be able to help you with that." He said, trying to lift her hopes up.

"How?" She asked plainly through the pain.

"Hm." Kakarot contemplated as she let him go from her embrace and looked at him.

"I'm not exactly sure. I mean, you know all that meditating stuff was something I always had trouble with, but I'm willing to give it a try. And if it means I could get strong enough to beat Popo and Kami like they said I could, then maybe it could help you too somehow!"

Gine smiled at Kakarot. She wondered how he could come up with such ideas on how to cheer her up, and it warmed her up a little through the numbness. But she still had doubts, some of which she had just realized.

"But what if it doesn't work? What if I try the training to control my power and I accidentally get upset again and try to hurt you?" She asked her son, now more frightened than ever at that possibility.

To that, Kakarot simply starred at her for a few extra moments, thinking. He really didn't expect to try and help his own mother through a crisis before, and it made him feel slightly uncomfortable not to mention slightly annoyed as he felt tired from such a long day or two of keeping an eye on his mother.

He always looked up to her for guidance even though he always knew her to be melancholic most of his life, but now it was the other way around this time. He wasn't sure how to go about this different kind of challenge, but like all other obstacles, he never backed down from trying to overcome it. So his fifteen year old Saiyan mind did the best it could to find a solution, and remembered what Grandpa Gohan always told him: _Everyone has the potential to be great if they set their minds to it._

That was the greatest truth he held near and dear to his heart, and he just saw that his mother was far stronger than he imagined. It was now an extremely exciting prospect to see how he could become as strong as her once he surpassed Popo and Kami. And as much potential she had in strength, she had the potential to control it. Kakarot wasn't sure how, but if he could somehow convince his mother that if she set her mind to calming her anger with Kami's help if he was as at the meditation stuff as Mr. Popo said he was, then she could harness her power correctly. He didn't know how, but it must be worth a try. Afterall, Roshi's techniques on how to keep a calm mind did help him improve his fighting a bit, so maybe it could be applicable to her, only on a different scale.

He waved a hand. "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. You'll have me here, and Kami and Mr. Popo to help you. And like Grandpa used to say: If you put your mind to it, you can do anything." He said with a hopeful smile.

Gine smiled back sadly, as it wasn't as assuring as she would've liked. But who was she to ask her own son for advice? It was the same stuff Gohan drilled into them since they met, but somehow she found that advice comforting even if she wasn't sure if she had a chance in Hell to put that to work on controlling her emotions.

Maybe, she could at least try doing that this time. If Kami was as good as he said he was, then who knows. And Kakarot was right, that she had her son and good people here to be here for her.

"Okay..." Was all she could say.

Kakarot looked happy. "Good."

"Thank you, Kakarot." She said sincerely to him, and reached to hold him for a long moment that Kakarot let her do if it made her feel better.

He yawned again, much deeper and harder to dampen this time. "Lets get some shut eye, shall we? It's been quite a long day." He said sleepily.

Gine thought he was right, even though she slept for a day already, she just wanted to rest some more. For it had been a VERY long two days. Hunting the dragonballs, saving a village and then the entire world, coming here, and the emotional roller coaster of everything in between this morning and now. It felt like she had lived a life in of itself in the past forty-eight hours, and she felt the tiredness in her soul as much as in her bones.

"You're right." She said before she slid back under the blankets.

"Goodnight, Mom." Kakarot said to her as he got comfortable in his cot and slid his blanket over himself with his tail. But Gine didn't have time to answer back for as soon as her head hit the pillow again, sweet darkness took her away and slept harder than she ever had in her life.

* * *

Meanwhile, out on the tiles grounds of the Lookout, night had fallen. The sky was crystal clear with the thinner air and lack of clouds this high up, making the stars shine in a diamond-like band from horizon to horizon. But Fortuneteller Baba paid no head to the sky and watched the Guardian of the Earth exit the peripheral dome of the temple that served as the guest quarters.

"Is she alright?" Fortuneteller Baba asked as Kami approached her.

"Gine's fine." He said. "She's resting now, hopefully she will feel better enough soon to train with her son."

"Good, good." Baba replied, twiddling her thumbs awkwardly. A silence feel between them.

"Well then." Baba said suddenly, clearing her old throat. "I suppose I'm no longer needed here so I'll just take my leave."

She turned to float away when Kami called out, "Wait, Baba. I'd like to speak with you further still."

The old witch groaned uncomfortably, then turned back to the Namekian reluctantly.

"Yes? What is it?" She asked hesitantly.

Kami gave her a look she couldn't discern.

"I've known you for quite a long time, Baba. You can be quite shrewd and unsavory with communicating in person at times, more so than your brother."

Baba raised an eyebrow, "Uh, thank you?" She asked sarcastically.

Kami's expression changed slightly however. As blank and calm as he was as Guardian, Baba knew that look of judgement on his face. "But I have never known of you, a fortuneteller of all people, to bear false witness before. Especially in my presence."

"What?" Baba acted surprised, "What do you mean? Are you saying that I lied to you?"

"Don't play games with me Baba, I know you were lying. Not just to me now... but to Gine back there." He said, motioning his head towards the dome that housed the Saiyan mother in question.

"Lying? To her?" She said, still playing innocent. "Why would I-"

"You know something. Something that you don't want her to know, isn't it?"

Baba looked at him nervously, "Uh, no! No, not at all! I mean- I didn't tell her everythi-" She said, before she caught herself at what she said.

He looked at her accusingly, knowing that she had called herself out.

Baba let out a defeated sigh, and grumbled under her breath. Kami heard it with his hypersensitive hearing and didn't appreciate the fact that she could just swear in front of him. Then she looked up at him warily.

"Before I say anything, can we talk somewhere a little more private than here, please?" She asked quietly.

Now it was Kami's turn to be incredulous. "We are here at the Lookout, by far the most private place on this planet as there is! And what right do you think you have to ask me of conversing of withholding information from Gine when she's here?"

"Sh! Keep your voice down!" Baba hissed through clenched teeth, looking over Kami's shoulder towards where Gine and Kakarot were sleeping.

"Look, you're right. There is something I have...failed to mention earlier." She said carefully. "But, I'd rather talk about it somewhere else, if there are some people here who should not be made privy to that information just yet."

Kami raised an eyebrow, or a brow as there lacked any hair there for a Namekian. "Just yet? Why would they-"

"Just, just..." Baba said frantically, trying to keep quiet. Then tried to ask politely.

"Could we just go somewhere at least somewhat private that isn't here? I understand what I'm doing may seem wrong to you. But it's really important that I do. And I'll be glad to explain it to you if you do this for me."

Kami looked at the fortuneteller for a couple seconds, then closed his eyes in utter disbelief.

"Alright, hang on." He said, using his senses to feel around briefly to be sure Mr. Popo did not know what was happening and could attend to his duties of caring for the Lookout.

Once he was satisfied that Popo was indeed inside the temple fixing the broken tiles and that it would be safe in his brief absence, Kami placed a hand on Baba's crystal ball.

In the next moment, they were both instantaneously transported to somewhere that was far colder than it was atop the Lookout. The white tiles of the ground were replaced with white snow that Kami's slippers sank deep into. The sky full of stars were replaced with a dark overcast of clouds and the horizon surrounded with tall icy peaks.

"There, better?" Kami asked, unaffected by the cold.

Fortuneteller Baba looked around, surveying the land and at once recognizing it as the mountainous arctic region. She shivered slightly from the cold wind that brushed past them, wishing Kami could've taken them someplace warmer. But here at least, they were miles and miles away from anyone who cared to hear them.

"Yeah, this is fine." She said, sneezing already.

"Good then, now..." Kami's face turned serious. "What information is so important that you felt you had to without from me and Gine back there?"

Baba shivered some more and, after a slight flicker of her hand, she whipped out a thick wool coat out of thin air to wrap herself up in. Once she liked how it fit and made her warm like a ball of fuzz, she answered his question.

"Right then, well, you remember how I explained to her that I could not grant passage for her deceased lover and other child?"

Kami nodded that he did.

Baba went on, "Well, the truth is that while her lover, Bardock, is indeed dead but not only in Hell instead of limbo, that her other child, Raditz, is not. He is in fact, alive and well."

Kami looked very surprised. "Her other son is alive?!"

Baba simply nodded. "He is. I saw him in my crystal ball after I had a vision of the encounter up on the Lookout from earlier today. He is indeed alive and still serving under the galactic emperor Gine told you about, Frieza."

"You saw him?" The Guardian of the Earth asked.

"I did. In fact, here! Come see for yourself!" Baba said as she hopped off her crystal ball, floating next to it. She waved her hands over the smooth orb, chanting and willing it to show her what she wanted to see.

Kami stepped closer to look as the crystal ball came to life.

The fog inside the glass cleared to show a very tall young man with a look not unlike that of Gine and Kakarot, the look of a Saiyan. But this Saiyan had _very_ long spiky hair that was as black as night, and it ran all the way down to the back of his legs like a hedgehog. He wore a strange black and bronze suit of armor, flared shoulder and leg guards that shielded his bare limbs save for the heavy boots and gauntlets.

His face was obscured slightly by a strange green-lensed apparatus covering one eye, but they could see the anger, fear, and desperation etched into his skin like an iron mask.

The view of the orb zoomed out to show him frantically dodging energy blasts fired at him from the laser cannons of some tentacled alien warriors that Kami did not recognize, as they in were a sort of pill-box carved out the red soil of whatever planet this was, guarding the entrance to a sort of fortress city. And this Raditz dived into a crater to find protection, and fired a volley of purple energy beams from both open palms blindly over the rim of the shelled ground he used as cover. Baba and Kami saw two more Saiyan men dressed similarly like him, one shorter and the other enormously larger than Raditz, charge directly ahead of him seemingly unafraid of the danger while he cowered in the dirt.

"By the Kais." Kami said in horrific awe at the sheer size of the struggle he was witnessing. Although they couldn't hear what they were seeing, it was a gigantic battle unlike anything he had seen, and he could almost feel the pain from it. From the beings these Saiyans were slaughtering in their conquest, and from this Raditz.

Wherever he was, he was fighting for his life on some destroyed battlefield on a distant planet at that very moment. And as hardened as he looked, they could see how afraid he was.

Kami recognized that look all to well, on the faces of countless soldiers that had fought and died in every conflict that happened on Earth during his charge as Guardian. The faces of pure terror, of horror, pain, and sorrow from their last moments in their mortal shells before sudden death claimed them and him ferrying their souls to Otherworld. Their cries of despair and salvation from such fate made Kami weep sometimes at how they met their fate in such a cruel way. And more so at how he sometimes felt so powerless to stop it due to his duty to not interfere with the mortal world.

Kami stepped away from the crystal ball, unable to bear watching more of what was happening. But also to address another question that had been pressing him.

"Wait a moment, you said you had a vision of the encounter on the Lookout? As in your foresaw that specific conversation we were going to have about the dragonballs?" Kami asked Baba, who also looked away from the ball to face him.

"Yes. It was an unusually powerful vision for such a trivial event to take place. But I saw that it would have dire consequences to the Earth depending on what happened during that time. And what she would do with the dragonballs if she knew the truth of her family's fate."

Kami had to ask, "And, what would have happened if you divulged to her that her son was indeed alive?"

"She would have used the dragonballs to wish him to here." Baba stated. "But that cannot be allowed to happen. Not yet."

"Not yet?" Kami exclaimed, aghast. "Why in Heavens not? Don't you think it would have been worth it bring happiness to her and her children? Sure, her partner in Hell may be a lost cause unless King Yemma decided anyone from Hell could have passage, but look at that!" He said pointing toward the carnage in the ball and Raditz caught in the middle of it.

"What reason could there even be to not end this kind of suffering?! You saw her, how much pain she was in for missing her lost child. And what about that poor fellow, fighting for his life in a battle where so much blood has already been spilt?"

Baba held both hands out to Kami in a cool off gesture. "I know, I know this seems like a cruel thing to do, Kami. But I assure you that I would never do something like preventing a rightly-deserved reunion with her long lost son unless it was to prevent an even greater danger."

That caught Kami's attention. "What kind of greater danger?"

Baba explained forebodingly, "I had foreseen a terrible chain of events that would follow if she was granted her wish, which would ultimately end with the destruction of this planet and an unstoppable terror that would reign about countless other worlds beyond Earth."

Kami was stunned. "What?!"

Baba nodded gravely. "That's right. In my visions of what could have come to pass, that if Gine had called upon Shenron to wish her son here to Earth, that she and her family would indeed be happy that they are finally reunited once more. But that act would ultimately doom planet Earth. For whoever this Raditz serves, the imperial minions of Frieza, would certainly come looking for him. Or failing that, would eventually stumble across this planet and find him, and would kill him for desertion, then they would either capture or his mother and Kakarot, and finally destroy this whole planet for their evil purposes. Which would in turn would spell a dark future for not just to other worlds across the galaxy... but possibly the entire universe."

Kami stood there in disbelief and horror, how could this even be possible? He wondered.

Baba saw this and looked at him sincerely apologetically.

"Believe me when I say that I had meditated long and hard on this, searching my crystal ball for any other possible solutions and timelines for this dilemma. But as much as it pains me to see her grieve in a way no ever should, she _must_ not know the true fate of her son just yet. For this is the only way to guarantee Earth's safety."

Kami let his head fall. This truly was a sad and utterly terrifying situation. And he wished he had the power to not make it so.

"But she will learn of his survival one day when he arrives on Earth in due time." Baba added.

Kami's head shot back up. "Raditz will come here?"

"Yes, in approximately eight years from now." Baba said. "Based on the outcome of that conversation from my vision of her not knowing, he will most likely make his way to Earth by himself. And he will find his brother, and mother. After that, I feel there seems to be a better chance to protect the Earth from what happens next."

"And what will happen next?" Kami asked, almost afraid to do so.

"I'm not certain, for the future beyond his arrival at that point is clouded and in constant motion." Baba admitted. "That will depend on how they prepare."

"Prepare?" Kami asked. Baba went on.

"Yes. If Raditz were to arrive now, they would stand no chance to defend Earth against the might of Frieza's forces if they come looking for him. But with a few years of time and the right circumstances to be triggered, they could train for it."

Kami shook his head in confusion. "Why would training just Gine and Kakarot now be the best course of action instead of all three of them."

Baba shrugged. "I'm not sure of that either, but I do know that the three of them united now would mean certain destruction of the Earth if we do so. But the future for the next few years rests entirely on Gine and Kakarot's strength for the time being."

Kami was perplexed. "Their strength?"

"Yes. Kakarot is by far the greatest warrior on this planet, he could be trained to be stronger and faster than ever before to make him it's protector. And you saw the hidden power Gine had. If she could be trained to harness it, she has the potential to be as strong if not stronger than her son. With both of them together, I feel events will follow after that in a way that would safeguard the Earth's future. But with Raditz in the picture now, it could distract them from getting stronger for when those who serve Frieza come to get him. And you know that we can't directly tell them that if Raditz is brought here, for that would surely be a violation of your duties."

Kami tried to think of an excuse or flaw in Baba's plan.

"And what's to stop me from just going back to the Lookout to wake her up and tell her that her son is alive?"

Baba looked at him sheepishly. "Nothing, I can't make you do that. But I am asking as nicely as I can to not do that."

Kami didn't like that. "But that's a lie, Baba. You know that as a god, I cannot lie. Let alone intervene in the lives of mortals even I had invited them to the Lookout."

"And you aren't, you are just not telling her if she doesn't ask." Baba tried to sell her point. "Call it: divine non-intervention. I mean, it IS your job basically."

"A lie by omission is still a lie, Baba." Kami shot back, and then got even more serious with the fortuneteller. "Also, consider this: If we wait for him to come to Earth in the next few years, she will find out that we lied to her. And you saw back up there what she could do when she got angry." He said, leaving that last part open. He did not want to imagine what Gine could be capable of if she had a hidden power that was unleashed on him if she found out she had been lied to over her greatest source of pain.

Baba slumped, and spoke to him gently. "Look, I know it's a lot to ask, and there definitely is a lot at stake here. But please consider it for the people of Earth, for your duty as Guardian is to safeguard this world. Even if you are nothing more than just a supervisor..."

For some reason, Kami didn't like that comparison.

"This is the greatest threat Earth will ever face, and I am trying to help you. It may seem like a tall order to commit a sin and prolong one person's suffering... and risk getting curb stomped by a very angry mother, but I swear to you that this is the best chance at survival for billions of lives on this world and many others that could be in danger."

Kami just stood there, weighing those choices that could determine the fate of his planet. None of them sounded entirely good, but as much as he hated to admit it, Baba was right.

She may be a rude and arrogant witch, but he trusted her power of foresight and her help in doing the right thing. For she had told them of Gine and Kakarot's arrival on Earth all those years ago, and how it sent ripples of dramatic change throughout the future, and thus warned him about it to keep an eye on them if their presence would come into play later. And now it was that 'later'.

As much as it hurt him to see Gine in so much pain and of the risk of her wrath, he had to think of the greater good.

Kami thought long and hard at Baba's words. While he was thinking, he glanced back at the crystal ball with it's view still on Raditz. The battle was over, the fortress taken over with all resistance eliminated. The long-haired Saiyan that was Gine's eldest had crawled out of the crater he was hiding in. The other two Saiyans he saw from before were there with him too, supposedly his comrades. The larger one was a hulk of a man with black and gold armor, his head bald and eyes glaring with anger, which eclipsed whatever wits this Saiyan had. The shorter one however, who wore a blue bodysuit under his white and gold armor, had eyes that shot nothing but malice at the affrighted Raditz. He sported hair that stood like black flames, and wore a similar optical device with a red lens. By the way the larger Saiyan and Raditz regarded him, as well as the pure arrogance the shorter Saiyan exuded, he must have been their superior.

He stepped forward and gut-punched Raditz, making him double over and clutching his stomach in pain. The shorter Saiyan proceeded to stomp on the back of Raditz's head which drove his face deeper into the dirt. Kami couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could tell the shorter Saiyan was out to punish Raditz for his act of cowardice somehow. And the sickening smile on the shorter Saiyan's face told that he was enjoying it, all the while the larger one laughed.

"Please, will you do this? For the Earth?" Baba pleaded as Kami still watched the crystal ball.

When the shorter Saiyan was finished with Raditz, he barked an order at his larger companion took off to probably lay waste to the rest of the undefended planet while Raditz lay motionless on the ground, in horrible pain and wishing he was somewhere else.

And here this poor soul was, living in what Kami could accurately compare to was Hell. And Baba did not want to have him wished out of this danger to save his own planet. But this one act of letting this one Saiyan stay where he was and suffer whatever happens to him unimpeded for the near future, could determine the fate of so many. Billions, perhaps even trillions on many other worlds, could depend on him not telling Gine.

Kami took a deep breath and closed his eyes in shame.

"Forgive me, Gine." He said quietly to himself, and was certain that he was going to say those words again in the future. He wasn't sure if Gine by then would have the self control to not kill him if does what he is going to do, but part of him felt like he will deserve it either way.

* * *

 **A/N: And done! That was a doozy to write, as I knew this one had the potential to open up ALOT of cans of worms with potholes, inconsistencies, and other things that I'm sure someone would point out to me. Is it lazy? Is it brilliant? Is it consistent with the rules of the Dragonball Universe? And does it address some things satisfactorily that Akira Toriyama didn't when Dragon Ball was first made? Let me know!**

 **See you next time, and remember to wash your hands!**


	19. CHAPTER 18: MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT

****Hello again:) Hope everyone is staying safe and in good health, and that they liked the last chapter and what it could mean for the events of Z later on.****

 ** **For those who were sad that Bardock won't be brought back for a day: don't fret, for he will have a part to play in the story further down the line. I also went back and did some edits and spellchecking on the first four chapters so check it out if you want.****

 ** **Now, onwards to the next chapter and Gine's training!****

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 18: MIND, BODY, AND SPIRIT

Gine looked across the grounds of the Lookout, eyeing Kakarot meditating with Kami. Both of them sat together cross-legged on the tiled floor, hands clasped and eyes closed. A swarm of beautifully colorful butterflies fluttered around them, the boy and the Namekian looked so peaceful.

"Kakarot, you're nodding off, not meditating." Kami said without opening his eyes.

Kakarot jerked upright, but didn't open his eyes either.

A week had passed since they arrived at the Lookout to begin their training together, and her son was as much a restless blur as he always been. But now he was quickly acquiring the patience to sit for hours with the Guardian doing nothing, something Gohan had never managed to achieve.

Gine remembered how both she and Kakarot learned the practice of meditation from him all those years ago. How near impossible it was back then to get her son to stop running around, let alone sit down with them for something he (and to some extent herself) found so boring. Her boy was a ball of energy that knew no limits on when to stop trying to have fun until his body gave out from exhaustion.

Now he looked as calm as the breeze-less air around them, despite having been full of excitement at the type of training ahead when he woke up this morning.

Gine jokingly guessed Kami did work miracles as a deity if he was able to manage getting Kakarot excited about sitting around with an empty mind. But he just had to rephrase it as 'training', that word alone was enough to get Kakarot excited about anything.

"Wrong still, you need to empty your mind by not losing consciousness. Try again." Kami quipped, his Namekian antennae twitching.

Kakarot groaned as if he had been caught. "This stuff is hard! I keep trying to not think of anything but I get sleepy, and when I think I have thought of something then I can't get my brain to stay quiet." He complained to Kami, still not opening his eyes.

The Guardian of the Earth tilted his head towards Kakarot. "It's not trying to suppress thoughts, Kakarot. For that requires action within the mind. Neither should you let the darkness of your eyes closed make you fall asleep. Remember that this exercise is to clear your mind entirely. To let it be one with the world around you, so you can sense everything in and out of your body. Understand?"

Kakarot grimaced, trying to wrap his mind around what he had to do _without_ having to use his mind.

"I guess so." He said hesitantly.

Gine couldn't fathom it either from where she stood. If it took Gohan years to teach her how to simply calm her thoughts down to something manageable from a bad place, she wondered at how she and her son were supposed to pull off the level of meditation that Kami was trying to teach.

"Ahem." Came Mr. Popo's voice from nearby to get her attention.

Gine looked at the demigod apologetically and walked over to him. She took a last glance at her son, and mentally wished her son good luck. Knowing how his mind worked like she did as his mother, he was going to need it.

"I suggest you do some warming up first." Mr. Popo instructed.

"Alright." Gine responded obediently and did a series of stretches; she sighed from the pleasing cracks of twisting her back. Feeling more refreshed, she let herself drop over to do her set of five hundred rapid pushups to get her heartrate going.

She had been slow at getting up to speed on this new training under Kami's tenure. Only just starting today after a week since she agreed to train with her son... a week after her breakdown.

Kami let her rest after that, telling her to take as long as she wanted until she felt ready again, while Kakarot started right away. But she spent almost every day of that week in her cot, barely eating and either unconscious or softly crying. Kakarot nudged her every so often to check up on her, and after a few days he was starting to get worried. But Gine barely felt the need or want to do anything, the pain of having to grieve a second time for losing the same son to some stupid circumstance drained her of any reason to get up. From that, she lost her sense of time until Kakarot told her a week had passed.

When she heard that, and remembering what they were there for, Gine finally snapped her out of her funk. She felt numb inside still, and that would not go away anytime soon. But she told herself that wallowing in her sorrow won't accomplish anything but making herself more miserable, and vowed to focus on spending training time with her surviving son instead.

Her limbs felt as stiff as a board, but she managed to force herself out of bed to an ecstatic Kakarot. At breakfast they were greeted with a mountain of her favorite foods that were magicked onto the dining table in their quarters. Buttery potatoes, pickled eggs, diced onions, giant slabs of meat, basket-loads of bread, bowls upon bowls of rice and soup, and tea. Seeing all that nourishment surprisingly made her forget the ache in her and feel Saiyan again, proceeding to inhale every item with renewed vigor. Once full and rejuvenated enough to walk around, she felt her normal self again from strolling outside in the sun and cold air.

Kami walked with Gine as she got her bearings. She assured him that she was still committed to the training, and wished to start that day. So he instructed her that she was to spar with Mr. Popo first in order to begin her training properly, as Kakarot did.

Gine was worried she might have to, remembering the display of hidden strength they all told her. But she agreed.

She wasn't sure how they were going to teach her how to harness or control it, but nothing gained if nothing ventured...

After finishing her five hundredth push-up in just under three minutes, Gine sprung to her feet. She flexed her fingers and rolled her head around, feeling some energy course through her veins.

"Are you ready?" Popo asked patiently.

"Yes I am." Gine answered, then looked concerned.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want to accidentally kill you."

Popo chuckled. "Do not worry, Gine. Feel free to come at me whenever."

"Okay then." Gine said simply.

She bent her knees and held her curled hands out in her attack stance while Popo just stood in front of her, shoulders squared and arms by his side.

At least she warned him, she thought.

Half a blink-of-an-eye later, she phased in front of Popo's face to hopefully catch him off guard and knee him in his gut... only to have her knee go through him.

She instantly panicked if she had just accidentally impaled Popo as she feared. But his form faded as her momentum carried her on a few more feet before she landed.

"Missed me." Came Popo's voice from behind her left.

Gine wheeled around, relieved that he wasn't dead. As well as annoyed at how he dodged a quick move like that.

She leapt at him directly this time with a punch. But he was ahead of her and deflected the fist with a swipe of his hand.

"Missed me again!" Popo said, his unblinking stare just as unwavering as his relaxed form.

Gine frowned, but noticed he left his front unguarded. With Popo still holding out his hand to her punch, she roundhouse kicked him.

Popo's other hand took the leg before it made contact with his glutenous side, and threw himself around it with a twirl that forced Gine away from him.

"Please put an effort to actually hit me. Don't hold anything back." Said Mr. Popo.

Gine glared at him, feeling undignified. She did indeed restrain herself out of worry of hurting him, but a small part of her wanted to prove her strength with knocking him out quickly and with as little effort. But now it seemed like she might have to step up her game.

"Alright, fine. I wont!"

She charged at him, channeling her ki into her fists to hopefully pound through his blocks with enough force. But again Popo didn't budge and met each punch with palms that deflected the blows. They only slightly caved an inch back, but no painful blow reached his face or gut as Gine hoped.

After a good thirty seconds of attacking him with these ki-enhanced punches, Gine backed off to catch her breath. Popo stood exactly where he was when she first pounced on him.

"Are you sure you're the same woman who defeated King Piccolo? Because you don't seem to know how to fight properly." Mr. Popo said unemotionally.

The words were nowhere as near as vile as the language she had heard used against her throughout her old life back on planet Vegeta, but the words from Mr. Popo seemed to cut into Gine just as painfully.

"Shut up!" Gine yelled at him, her tail frayed in anger.

Mr. Popo just smiled in return. She began to feel a rising anger within her at this insufferable little tub and wanted to punch that stupid smile off his face.

"Such a short temper you have. No wonder Piccolo was able to beat you." He said to her.

That did it for her.

"YAAAAAAA!"

A fit of rage overtook Gine as she proceeded to try and pummel Popo into a bloody mess with all her might. Instantly she sprang herself at him with an onslaught of punches at blurring speed, which he easily blocked with his open palms just as quickly.

She at least had him moving back as she pressed her offensive, but he kept up with her punches. Gine grit her teeth and growled in frustration as Popo refused to show any opening in his defense as quickly as she hoped from her barrage.

"Don't be hasty, you are only wasting valuable energy. Just calm down." He lightly scolded, but to her ears it sounded mocking.

She tried to knee him in the face to throw him off, only for him to fade and reappear at her side with a kick of his own that sent Gine flying sideways. She flipped on her shoulders to bleed off the momentum and land on her feet facing him.

Popo didn't show any signs of exertion despite keeping up with her attacks at the breakneck speed they were at. And it made Gine feel like she may have _seriously_ underestimated him.

"If you couldn't beat King Piccolo like this, then you cannot beat me. Please, do yourself a favor and give up."

Now Gine was seething.

Without thinking, she screamed angrily and flew at him with all the strength she had in her legs to drive her fist through this infuriating demigod's face.

In an effortless movement like a dance, Popo ducked and caught her trailing leg under her. She was yanked out of the direction of her launching and Popo began to spin like a top. He increased his speed, and hovered higher above the tiles.

Gine got too disoriented, her eyes hurting from the blur of motion and it was making her nauseous.

He let go of her, and Gine was sent flying into a tree. She hit the back of her head against it with a loud whacking sound. Amazingly, the tree didn't break from the impact.

She slid down to her butt, clutching the back of her head and glaring at Popo with fire in her eyes. He hovered back down to his feet and smiled sweetly at her. For a moment, Gine was tempted to blast him where he stood. In the next moment she also remembered Kakarot trying that too before, and how that didn't work either.

As she was angrily thinking of a strategy, Popo spoke.

"You have the strength to beat me, but you have no technique on how to feel me, nor the discipline to handle your emotions. If you mastered those things, you would be unstoppable."

"Huh?" That caught Gine by surprise, expecting another taunt.

"You rely too much on brute force." He lectured while she stood back up. "You think that with enough of it you can destroy any obstacle or pound any foe into submission, but all of your strength will mean nothing if you cannot hit your opponent. On top of that, by getting angrier when you don't get your way, you tend to get quite sloppy."

 _"_ Where have I heard that before?" She thought aloud ruefully. In her mind, she remembered all the times she spared with Gohan, including their first time. How he tossed her around so easily when she charged him. And how he explained to her the second time...

 _"As I said, relying on strength alone does not guarantee that you would win a fight. If you had opponents who were much faster than you or knew pressure points, magical abilities or things of the like, you can still be beaten. Like how I managed to take you down, even though you are much stronger than I am."_

She had heard this exact speech before from Gohan all those years ago. That even a weakling like him could best a Saiyan like her in combat.

"You haven't really learned much from your friend Gohan, didn't you?" Popo spoke up.

Gine glared at him again, but more threateningly. She had more than enough of people intruding into her private thoughts.

Trying hard not to get too riled up, she just answered defensively. "I learned a thing or two about techniques. So I improved a little."

"But the finer details still evade you, which could make all the difference between victory or death. It may not have sunken in yet from all the fights you've had during your stay here on Earth, but by now I hope I've made it obvious that I was able to deflect the energy of your attacks by using your redundant moves, anger, and your lack of sensing me against you."

"I've been making redundant moves?" Gine asked, still feeling angry but also wondered what sensing had to do with this. So she tried to address one thing at a time.

"Yes." Popo explained. "Instead of wasting precious moments trying to gather hatred and energy for a killing blow on an enemy that could match your power, you must make only the necessary strikes without any clouding of the mind. Which ties in to my other two points: Your anger that slows you down and hinders your ability to sense me."

"Wait, sense you? As in, feel your ki?" Gine asked.

Popo nodded. "Yes. Do you not have that ability?"

"I can sense energy, yes. But why would I need to sense you? I could see, hear, and smell you move already."

"I am weaker than you, yet could outmaneuver you. Someone as powerful as yourself should be able to feel my movements right in front of you." Popo explained. "The five senses alone could only take you so far in a fight if your brain cannot react fast enough without sensing your opponent's spirit. Like the wings of a fledgling bird, they can flap, but they cannot fly."

"But, you are in front of me! Why would I need to sense you if I could use my five senses?" Gine asked impatiently, feeling like she was missing something.

Popo stared at her for a moment as if a light clicked on. "Ah, I see. You don't use that during fighting."

Now Gine was curious. "So you're saying I should sense your ki during a fight?"

"Exactly." Popo nodded.

"Huh." Gine pondered curiously. "But... I thought it was just some way to find someone."

"It's more than just wayfinding, it allows you to not only sense the flow of energy in your opponent but even predict their movements. Thus allowing you to understand the way someone fights and how you could combat them with weaknesses or openings." Popo explained.

"Interesting..." Gine said, intrigued by the potential of such an ability. "So, how would I be able to do that?"

"In order to feel someone's aura up close rather than afar, your mind must be calm and still like a stone, for a stone that is dry can absorb the flow of outside energy like water." Mr. Popo explained in his metaphoric way which Gine found rather irritating. She preferred to be told the point of each exercise than with riddles.

He continued, "To quiet the mind, you must empty it of all emotion, and not think of every move which could slow you down or make unnecessary movements, that is allowing your body to do the feeling and moving for you."

"Okay..." Gine acknowledged, but confused.

Popo backed up and stood still as he did before, "Come at me again. This time I want you to empty your mind of all thoughts and emotions in order to properly sense me."

"Oh, uh, alright then." Gine said, still confused and now a little worried. She knew herself. How could she, the most empathic Saiyan ever born, even try to control her emotions?

She got into her attack stance, and closed her eyes in concentration.

"Focus. All thoughts and feelings must be silenced if you wish to sense successfully, so take your time." Popo instructed.

Gine heard him and tried to get herself to stop thinking about things. Was she really supposed to not think of anything? She thought to herself.

What about the grief they all saw her go through? How was she supposed to not think of Raditz? And could she even do that? It almost felt wrong to her to even consider that idea, as if it was like forcing herself to forget his memory. What kind of mother would do that kind of double kill to her own child?

She skipped that thought entirely as she realized it was making her go in circles in her head and felt like that part of her shouldn't be touched, and forced herself to not think of anything. But as she did so she felt the walls of her stomach beginning to quiver in an approaching grumble. She was hungry, she realized. And as much as she tried, she couldn't ignore her Saiyan body's needs. So she would have to fight on an empty stomach, but it felt bad.

Gine also wondered how much time had passed as she stood crouched and eyes closed. She admitted she probably looked silly, and reasoned her mind was calm enough. Calmer than it usually was anyway as she always worried about things every second. So she opened her eyes and looked them with Popo.

Feeling herself ready to take on Popo, Gine launched herself at him, hurling a fist behind her and thrusting it towards Popo's gut.

The dark-skinned demigod tilted backwards a split-second faster than she could react, landing on his back and used both of his feet to kick Gine in the gut and send her flying upwards.

Gine felt the wind get kicked out of her lungs, and regained herself by stopping her ascent from Popo's kick. She hovered a hundred feet above the Lookout, looking down flabbergasted at Popo. Did she do something wrong? She wondered, and as did while looking down it was then she noticed that the whole Lookout bore a resemblance to an arena. How fitting, she thought in her "calmer" state.

Mr. Popo suddenly vanished from where he stood and reappeared just above her. As she expressed her surprise, Popo twirled forward head over heels, and the back of his foot hit the top of Gine's head. She was hit hard enough to be stunned temporarily, and was sent her flying back down towards the arena.

She stopped herself from smashing into the tiles by flipping over and landing on her feet. She was about to spring her legs and launch herself back up into the air at Popo, but he had disappeared from up above and reappeared by her side, body slamming her with his shoulder that made her tumble down to the floor.

"You are still not feeling my movements, Gine. Your mind must be calm." Popo said sternly.

Gine sat back up with barred teeth. "I AM calm!"

Popo couldn't express much emotion with his downturned lips, but the stare he gave her after what she said conveyed how much he didn't believe her words.

Gine's face softened when she realized what she said, and brought up her balled fists to her eyes in frustration.

"Why can't I figure this out!?" She yelled through her fists.

Popo walked up to her. His wide eyes made him look like some sort of robot to her, but he conveyed sympathy as he talked. "It is only the start of the first day, Gine. There is no need to fret if you don't get it right the first time."

Gine thought of his words and sighed, forcing herself to take a deep breath.

"You're right. I'm sorry." She said, feeling slightly better. He was right, she had three years to learn this. It was childish of her to react this way on the first try.

As she stood back up, she saw how Popo was so calm and quiet. If she couldn't see or hear him, she'd have no idea he was even there. It made her think...

"How do you do it then? I mean, how do you maintain a mind calm and empty enough to fight me the way you did?" She asked.

"Through the power of meditation, I can shake all thoughts and emotions, good and bad, from my mind allowing me to focus on the fight at hand in order to access the ki-sensing ability at the level required to fight my opponent." Popo answered.

"Like them over there?" Gine pointed towards her son and Kami still sitting on the other side of the Lookout.

"Yes." Said Popo.

Gine felt confused, "So... how is sitting while thinking of nothing supposed to help me in a fight?"

Popo shook his head. "It doesn't necessarily have to be exactly as they are doing. For meditation is simply the power of the mind and spirit working in harmony with the body. That in turn allows you to utilize your maximum potential as a living being to do anything. In order to do so, you must be able to shed yourself off all positive and negative emotions and thoughts to truly tune into your sprit to feel other spirits, and empty your mind to read other fighter's minds."

"I see..." Gine looked at him while taking in his explanation. "All emotions and thoughts, good and bad?"

"Uh-huh." Popo said. "Nothing inside your mind. No self-doubts, no senses of accomplishment, no memories, nothing."

"Nothing?" Gine asked worriedly, which Popo picked up.

"It's nothing to be afraid of, Gine. You are not going to forget the things you wish to hold dear to your heart, for you are temporarily displacing them for clarity. Like wiping away dust from a window."

Gine felt somewhat relieved. It seemed silly that she would think that shoving things aside in her mind would somehow equate to forgetting, but it felt reassuring to be told it wasn't the case. And that was an analogy she liked for once.

Popo elaborated further. "And emotions can be powerful tools that could enhance our strength or will to fight, but they are liable to cloud your mind when you must have it clear to read your opponent, making you susceptible to fighting blind and erratically. Anger and fear especially have that power to hinder you."

Gine looked at Popo with a sad, knowing look. "And I have too much of those two things?"

Popo nodded. "I know it's none of my business, but I can sense the anger from being goaded and your self-doubts. As much as they weigh you down or blind you, you have the power to temporarily set them aside if you concentrate hard enough. With a mind that can see clearly and feel rather than react, you can hit your opponent as they are in their current states rather than just finding a way to hit them based on how fast your brain impulses move, slowed down by emotion not-withstanding."

Gine didn't want him to elaborate on the things he sensed in her, having grown weary of her worst parts of herself being exposed again and again by these telepathic beings of Earth. So she focuses on what he said, that she could have the power to make those things not matter even if for a little while?

"So... If by getting angry and thinking of my every move, I'm just _trying_ to hit you rather than just hitting you?" Gine said, trying to make sense of it.

Popo nodded. "Hence, why you need to control your emotions. For that will allow you to try see your opponent, and cut out your redundant moves."

Control her emotions. That phrase again. It seemed so alien to her, and somewhat too fanciful.

"If only it were that simple." Gine answered to that quietly, but she was sure Mr. Popo heard. He didn't react.

Then Gine asked, feeling somewhat honest about herself openly. "Knowing how... emotional I could be, how am I supposed to do that?"

Popo considered her question. "It is a matter of not listening to words being said to you. No matter how personal they are. For words themselves have no meaning unless proven otherwise with actions."

She nodded, and pondered Popo's words. She agreed wholeheartedly with that statement in all aspects of life, but for her state of mind in combat? If only it were that simple, if she could just tune out what people said in the heat of battle. But she would ask 'what if the information was critical?' or 'what if they gave up?'. But she guessed it was her overthinking.

"I am no judge of character, but I say you seemed rather susceptible to being taunted. Would that be accurate to you?" Popo asked.

Gine's expression went blank, looking down at nothing in particular. Popo's observation wasn't _entirely_ accurate, as she had been ridiculed and put down her whole life as a good-for-nothing Saiyan disgrace. But being reminded about how she failed to defeat Piccolo... Or now that she thought of it, how she failed to protect her son...

"Yeah I guess so." She said simply.

Popo smiled. "Then what you must do is simply not take to heart the words I say to you out of malice. You may have failed to defeat Piccolo and be a risk to those you care about, but now may have a chance to learn how to turn that around and not be a disgrace."

Gine gawked at him, how could he just insult her after just telling her not to react like that?!

Popo stopped smiling. "Just like that, what you felt now."

"Wait, that was a test?!" Gine asked incredulously to which Popo confirmed.

"Could have at least warned me." Gine sneered.

Popo shook his head. "Your enemies may not give you that luxury. For if you cannot block out words that could play havoc on your emotions, then they could use that very weakness against you. If all you feel is blind rage, it will make you unable to feel their movements and leave you to just reacting to them until you wear out. You could then be caught off guard, and killed that way."

Gine bit her lip, trying not to think of the image and sound of King Piccolo boosting to her how he 'killed' Kakarot. If Popo could make her not reach a hundred percent with just a few empty words, then what would happen if some other real enemy came along?

Mr. Popo smiled, as if sensing that Gine may have finally grasped something.

"Lets spar one more time." He suggested. "Remember these three things: I want you to _completely_ empty your mind of all emotions and focus on my movements. Don't get angry if you don't land a blow on me, and don't get angry at whatever I say to you."

Gine nodded and committed those words to her heart. But she still had doubts, would committing those things could as thinking if she was to clear her head?

She realized that was a thought trap, and shook her head.

"Okay, I'll try one more time." Gine sighed.

"No." Popo said suddenly. "There is no trying. You either do, or you do not."

Gine looked at him for a moment, then nodded. "Right."

And at that, she crouched into her attack stance again and closed her eyes.

She wasn't sure if it was just immediate thoughts she had to force out of her head, but was too afraid to break the dive into her mind to ask Popo...

 _No, she must_ completely _empty her mind._

That was what he said. So she decided to repress _everything_.

Concentrating, she forced her mind to temporarily forget everything inside her. Her worries about her strength, the memory of Piccolo's sickening laugh, the ridicule made by every Saiyan in her life, her pain over losing Raditz again, the impending hunger in her stomach, Kakarot, even the sounds around her got dull and faded.

And then for a moment, she felt blank. There was nothing but her in her stance and the peace inside her. It felt good. Euphoric even... then remembering what she had to do.

She sprung at Popo, her strike meeting his hand. But she followed up with another without thinking, almost moving like an automaton.

She heard him talking, something about still not feeling him. But she ignored it, and kept going, not letting up, even ignoring the fatigue in her exerted limbs. It made the passage of time seem to slow.

Then as she kept moving, a picture began to form in her mind's eye. It was all dark but she saw a glowing presence in front of her that moved in slow motion. She knew it was Mr. Popo, it was his energy signature and the way he moved, how it emanated waves and it's movements left ripples like water. How his energy flared and faded that dictated his moves, in anticipation of her attacks.

She kept up the calm state and every emotion she felt was but a trickle of what they were.

It all made sense now to her. She knew now where she ought to land her punches to throw off Mr. Popo's energy...

THERE!

Finally, out of nowhere, her fist connected to Popo's stomach and he cried out as he was sent flying backwards.

Gine sprung after him but stopped midair, catching herself. She gasped as Popo skidded across the tiled floor, coming to a stop nearly at the rim of the Lookout.

"POPO!" Gine nearly shrieked as she suddenly phased to his side and grabbed him, and wheeled him back towards the center of the grounds before he could fall over the edge. She then came to his side as she sat up and rubbed his belly, coughing in pain.

"Are you okay?!" She asked worriedly.

Popo lifted his head and looked at her smiling, not a single scratch or mark on him where she landed the blow.

"I am fine. You did it, Gine!"

Gine was surprised that he didn't complain that she had almost killed him, and smiled when she realized what she did achieve.

"Hey, yeah. I did!" She said happily as Popo got back up on his feet.

"I felt your energy." Gine said in amazement.

Popo smiled brightly. "Like fading and brightening ripples on water?" He asked.

"Yes, that was what it was like!" She said, smiling too. "Like you were moving so slow that I could have hit you a hundred times over."

"That's terrific!" Popo congratulated her. "With the amount of strength you have compared to me, that should give you an idea of just how unstoppable you would be if you mastered that technique."

Gine looked at Mr. Popo with stunned silence. This new sense would allow her to fight far more precisely than she ever could with how quickly her Saiyan brain reacted to input.

And for the very first time in her life, she felt true peace for but a few moments. For there was no worry for Frieza, no anger at being teased, no grief, just... peace. A state of being that allowed her to truly feel the world and people around her. It felt so liberating! And without taunts affecting her if she couldn't hear them, then maybe no threat like Piccolo could use them against her. Maybe she _coul_ d be unstoppable...

"Let's fight again." Said Popo. "For the more you practice that technique, the easier it will be to enter that state and use that sense."

Gine nodded eagerly. "Alright, good idea."

Popo for the first time go into a fighting stance, taking up an offensive form. "This time, I will be attacking and you will have to defend yourself by sensing my energy."

"Sounds good." Gine said smiling, and crouching into her own fighting stance.

It had been a long while since her Saiyan instinct for a challenge kicked in, but now she was feeling it. Something she hadn't experienced since she landed on Earth all those years ago. Learning something that opened her world in ways she never would've imagined like she did with Gohan.

She closed her eyes again, and forced herself to concentrate. Squashing all thoughts from forming in her mind, shoving every bad memory she has ever had to the side and pretending as if they never happened. She even squashed the immense pirde she felt for herself at learning this new trick. As Popo said, her mind must be clear of _all_ things...

Mr. Popo charged at Gine. In her minds eye as before, she saw the water-like ripples. The waves made as Popo moved through the air. Both of his fists out to slam into her.

There! She felt, as Gine side-stepped and brushed her arm past his fists to direct his energy away from her effortlessly.

But he quickly rebounded from the deflection and came right back at her with a kick.

It didn't bother her at all, as she sensed it coming and reacted accordingly. Blocked it with her arm and the front kick of his other leg that she followed up with a kick of her own that sent him flying sky high.

She didn't recall opening her eyes from her concentration but she could see him flying, both with her eyes and her mind's eye. It felt like a surreal experience to her, but she didn't dwell on it. She charged after him as he did towards her...

The battle raged on for several minutes. The distortion of time from using her ki-sensing ability made her forget its passage, stretching it until it felt like hours, but it didn't matter in the fight. It gave them more room to manuevur and find weaknesses. As Popo would say to her during the fight telepathically: _time means nothing if one was to win_.

And so they fought, their respective ki-sensing abilities made Gine and Popo move in almost perfect sync with each other. Gine being far stronger than him yet he was more adept at controlling his movements, so it seemed almost even until Gine became much sharper and more precise in her attacks. Finally, she landed a solid punch square in Popo's face that sent him crashing into the tiles.

With that, Gine snapped out of her ki-sensing battle trance and came to Popo's side. He had been roughed up from the impact, but told her not to worry.

"WHOA! WAY TO GO MOM!" Kakarot cheered, surprising her as she looked over to see her son and Kami standing nearby and watching.

"That was so cool!" Kakarot to her and jumped in excitement. "Can you teach me how to do that? Huh? Huh?! PLEASE!"

"Calm down, Kakarot!" Gine said, half-sighing at her son's energetic praise towards her and half-chuckling at how he still made her smile still with his giddiness.

"Well done, Gine." Kami said appraisingly as he walked up to her, his staff clanking along each step. Mr. Popo had dusted himself off and took his place beside his master.

"You have mastered the ki-sensing ability far faster than I thought possible. I must say that I am quite impressed, you are the quickest-learning fighter I had ever seen besides your son here." Said Kami.

"Oh, well, thank you heh." Gine laughed nervously, subconsciously reaching her arm overhead and scratching the back of her head as her son would do sometimes.

"Now that you have defeated Mr. Popo in a one-on-one fight, you can now officially begin your training under me." Kami said with a smile.

"That's great!" Gine said happily, clapping her hands once. "So... now what?"

Kami chuckled. "Well, you can join me and Kakarot here to master meditation techniques."

Whatever excitement Gine had at the training prospects deflated when he said those words. "Meditation?" She asked.

Kami nodded. "Yes. Now that you demonstrated you have can control your ki-sensing abilities in order to get past the first test that is Mr. Popo here, you will now learn how to truly master those abilities by honing your emotional energy and sensing the world around you. Energy that you would be able to channel during a fight."

"Oh, that's great." Gine said half-heartedly. She was afraid she would have to do this.

Gine meant what she said about being committed to the training, but the sitting down bits and meditating did not sound fun _at all_ and wondered how she was going to pull that off without falling asleep from boredom. After seeing Kakarot still trying to get past that after a week, what chance did she have?

As Gine thought of the words he said, she realized he brought up emotions in meditating.

"Wait, did you say emotional harnessing in meditating?" She asked the Guardian, which he confirmed.

"That's right. The power of emotional energy can truly be useful a warrior if it harnessed properly." Kami explained.

"But..." Gine shook her head in confusion. "I thought I shouldn't feel emotions like anger during a fight. Or else I'd be susceptible to redundant moves like Mr. Popo said."

Mr. Popo, who stood by Kami, answered. "That was part of the lesson, yes. But I had to make sure you understood the basics of precision fighting first before we moved onto the next step of your training. While true that emotions like anger could blind you, emotional power that is harnessed in a controlled manner through meditation could be directed however you want. Be it to how you solve problems or strength in a fight."

Gine stood there, taking in Popo's explanation with questions still forming. Did it mean that everything she had just learned in the past half-hour was null?

"I know it may seem contradictory at first, Gine. But I assure you that it will all make sense once you practice the art enough as I had been teaching Kakarot here." Said Kami as he pointed to her child.

"Yeah, Mom! Kami had been teaching me how to lay still enough to be calm like a stone. And how a stone thrown by an angry force like a volcano can have it's true power unleashed." Kakarot explained excitedly to her.

Gine no doubt knew that paraphrasing was another one of Mr. Popo's analogies to training. But she trusted her son when it came to important things, as everything she learned from him had benefitted her in some form or another in her fighting abilities. He was the true warrior of the two of them. So if Kakarot knew there was something to be learned from sitting around...

"Okay, then let's get to it then." Gine said hesitantly...

* * *

They sat cross-legged together at the foot of the temple. Gine, Kakarot, and Kami had their eyes closed, deep in the meditative state while Mr. Popo stood nearby eating a walnut snack.

Neither Saiyans or the Namekian had moved an inch since they took their spots earlier that day, save for the slight changes in stance whenever Popo flicked a walnut at them to check to see if they could sense it. And so far, all three of them had remained untouched and at peace. But a slow grimace appeared on Gine's face, that turned to an exasperated sigh that broke the silent circle.

"Are you sure this'll help me become a better fighter?" Gine said skeptically, for sitting cross-legged for a couple hours trying to both not think of anything while channeling anger didn't make her feel as assured as she thought she would.

Mr. Popo eyed her from his spot as he ate. "Two hours, a new record for you this time."

"Hey, I'm doing the best I can here." Gine said defensively. He had been keeping track of how long she sat still since they started meditated. She would break out of it frequently when they sensed she hadn't been keeping a quite enough mind or if she was making herself angry. And she was having trouble with it.

"A warrior's strength is important, but that is only half of it." Said Popo. "The mind is also a powerful weapon and must be developed just like your muscles."

"I know, I know. It's just hard to understand this part." Gine said.

"Don't worry Mom. You'll get it." Kakarot said as he broke out of his meditation for her.

She looked over to her son in frustration, "But I don't. I just don't get it. How am I supposed to maintain calm and be angry at the same time?!"

Kami opened his eyes to face her. "After awhile, it should come naturally to you. Like harnessing ki into the palm of your hand."

Gine groaned. That was the same reassurance he told her after every time she failed. But there wasn't much else she could ask or do to make things better, so just sighed and got back into her meditation pose.

Okay. Try again, she thought tiredly. Having said that to herself also for the hundredth time. It felt like she was going in circles...

"Okay, so, let's go over it this time... from the beginning. " Gine said. When in doubt, start from square one.

"Very well." Replied Kami as he took a deep breath that Gine and Kakarot mimicked. They all closed their eyes.

"Focus..." Said Kami in a soothing voice.

Gine did just that, concentrating her mental energy into forcing all of her thoughts, memories, and physical sensations from her brain.

"You must be like a stone. Calm and still, so that rain and wind cannot move you." The Guardian said, his voice getting softer.

Slowly but surely as it did in her fight against Popo, time slowed down...sounds and sensations faded to murmurs, leaving only her heartbeat... and her own aura... and the heartbeats and aura's of her son, and of Kami, appeared in her mind's eye...

 _"Think of the emotions and thoughts that gave you that power, then try to isolate it from the rest of your mind so you can maintain conscious control."_ She heard Kami say inside her mind. His voice sounded like a whisper in a dream. It echoed and faded, and sounded as if coming from everywhere.

 _"It will allow you to clear your mind of all anxiety, and thus become more attuned to the world around you. Easier to solve problems at hand than let your mind get clouded with doubt that enemies could take advantage of."_ Came Kami's omnipresent voice again.

 _"Feel the one thing that brings you righteous anger... something that burns like a fire inside your heart... Don't think. Feel..."_

In Gine's meditative state, his words translated to feeling, in order to keep thoughts from breaking through the barrier she put up in order to focus.

Before, she would think of Piccolo to make herself angry. Now, she would have to remember something deeper, more personal...

Anger, she felt. She knew that feeling well.

It was like fire, it burned. It seethed. It...

...Reminded her of helplessness.

How angry she was at those who made her feel it.

And anger at herself.

How she couldn't defend herself from everyone who took advantage of her.

How they beat her, ridiculed her, branded her, forced her to do things she never wanted to do...

 ** _"Please! Naga, I'm begging you, just let them go!"_** She heard her own voice cry out in her mind.

Wait, what? Where did that come from?

 ** _"Too bad, runt! You're doing it whether you want to or not!"_ **Another voice declared, gruff and snide.

Gine knew who that second voice belonged to. And a cold pit opened in her heart that extinguished any chance of a flame building.

It was a memory from a very long time ago... A memory she wished she could forget...

 _ **"No, please! Don't make me do this!"**_ Came her voice again. She was much younger; she sounded shriller, and more desperate. From another lifetime... From another world...

A rocky world, with dense planetary rings visible high in the sky obscuring the blue sun above...

Xai Celnussia IV... or as it would latter be called: Frieza Planet 138...

A ruined city, burning. Alien bodies strewn everywhere. Warriors and civilians alike. Killed, not by her. The work of her... comrades.

Only two survivors remained. A parent and a child...humanoid, albino skinned and pointy-eared. Not much different from her.

They were thrown at her feet. And the feet of her comrades...

 ** _"Frieza's orders, kid. No survivors to be left on this planet,_ so... _you do the honors!"_** Came a third voice that also sounded familiar, and so subservient. Another Saiyan that she knew, who fought along side... well, not with her but put up with her.

 _ **"Do it, or I'll kill you alongside them too. Might be better off that way anyways, one less weakling. You are a disgrace and this is your only chance to prove otherwise. So, I'm ordering you one last time: execute them."**_ Came the voice she remembered as Naga. Her first commander...

In her mind's eye, Gine heard her past self half-sobbing in hiccups, and wasn't sure if she was doing that herself now. But she felt despair. And anger...

Anger at this despair, at having no way out of this... She felt the world tremble around her as her past self raised a shaking hand.

 _"Gine?"_ She heard Kami's voice. He sounded concerned, and far away in the turmoil.

The world in her mind was now shaking violently, but she didn't care. She was too distraught. Too angry.

 ** _"DO IT!"_** Came Naga's voice again, a threat more than a command.

Angry at what the Saiyan comrades those voices belonged to made her do... how they broke her... how they made her feel so helpless...

 ** _"I-I- I'm sorry!"_** She heard herself say through her tears. There was a plea of mercy in the alien parent's language, a hum of gathering energy in her hand. Her heart nearly stopped, knowing what happened next.

 ** _NOOOO!_ **Gine's present self screamed at the release of energy, the sound of an explosion, and the sound of alien screams, the screams of death.

 _"GINE!"_

She suddenly snapped out of her trance, trembling and keeled over the tiled floor.

"Mom?! Are you alright?!" Kakarot asked frantically, putting a hand on her shoulder. She was trembling, nearly crying.

"Just breathe, Gine. You are safe now." Kami said as he placed a reassuring hand on her too. Mr. Popo stood behind and eyed Gine worryingly.

Gine took halting deep breaths, but her heart slowed down. Then she was breathing smoothly, and her tears dried. But the sounds of the screams and explosion still echoed in he mind. She looked at her open hand panicking, but there was no trace of a ki blast gathered. But she still felt the unbearable sorrow at what happened that day, and what she had done...

And it all came back to her out of nowhere, remembering it as if it just happened moments ago.

"What happened?" She asked, feeling shaken.

"You dived deep into a memory, and you gathered emotional energy from it for your meditative state." Kami explained to her.

Gine looked up at Kami worriedly as she heard this.

"From what I sensed it must have been truly... traumatic for you. It was so powerful that the energy you gave off shook the ground." He explained.

"I did?" Gine said quietly.

"Yeah! You were screaming about "don't make me do this!" or something like that." Kakarot filled her in, "Kami tried to shout at you in your mind to get you out of it if you were gonna blow up the Lookout or something."

Gine looked between her son and Kami in disbelief and horror. They had heard her call out her most painful personal memory? And that she presented a danger to them?

Kami spoke before she could ask her own question. "Whatever if was that you drew from in your mind, you do not have to talk about it if you wish, Gine."

Gine took a very grateful and heartfelt bow at Kami upon hearing those words. Gine knew that a telepathic Namekian like him most likely knew what happened in her memory, but he didn't ask about it, and she was glad for it.

"Thank you." She said quietly to Kami. Kakarot looked at her curiously, and slightly worried that he won't know what bothered his mother so badly. He hated seeing her in pain, and wanted to do anything he could to help. But he also knew when to not bother her.

Kami then smiled slightly. "However, on the more positive side of things, you managed to figure out the basic means of how to channel emotional energy. So if you want, I could teach you how to control it in a less draining way."

Gine felt worry creep into her. That was just the basics? As in she might have to recall that something she never wanted to relive ever again? How was this even related to her getting stronger in the first place?!

She shoved those thoughts aside and chuckled lamely, waving her hand. "Eh, that's okay Kami. I think I'm done for today."

The Guardian nodded understandingly. "As you wish, Gine. I'd say you've earned a break."

"Thanks." Gine said, feeling as if she had failed somehow. "Eh, well... I did my best anyway."

"Nonsense!" Said Kami in a reassuring smile. "You didn't fail at anything today, Gine. You did fantastic! You managed to grasp ki-sensing in combat AND emotional harnessing meditation basics in just the first day! You should be proud of yourself."

Gine chuckled half-jokingly, "Oh, well, thank you. I guess I'm not a lost cause afterall."

Kami's smile faded a little, "Of course you are not a lost cause, what in the world would make you say that?"

Gine's face turned downtrodden, looking at the floor as her eyes saw beyond the tiles. She thought of how she didn't see the relevance of this kind of meditation training, but thought that she didn't know it only because...

"I was never a great warrior. I was branded an outcast for simply being the weakest Saiyan ever born in recent memory on my home planet."

Kakarot looked up at her with a mix of sympathy and disbelief. He reached a hand up to place on his mother's shoulder. "That's not true, Mom! You're a great fighter! Doesn't matter what other Saiyans thought of you back then." He said encouragingly.

Gine was touched by her son's comforting words, but she shook her head. How little he understood of her and their home world.

"It _did_ matter what they thought, son. For that still dictated how my life turned out." Gine said with a hollow voice.

Sure, it shouldn't matter what other people thought of her. That she took to heart more than she ever had before. But the fact remained that on planet Vegeta, it was the way of life. There was only the strong and the weak. She was born weak, and she hated fighting. The absolute worse traits a Saiyan could have. All rotten luck.

"I was a weakling. And if I couldn't put up a fight, I was worth nothing."

All her life there was nothing she could do about it aside from keep her head low and slip by. But many times, she wasn't so lucky. Too often had she been picked out and beaten down to be nothing more than a punching bag for everyone who decided to take out their frustrations or if they just felt like it, a constant reminder of what she was. A pacifist that was too weak to have the right to even call herself a Saiyan.

And even then, she still had to fight like a Saiyan under Frieza's rule. To refuse to fight was treason, and certain death. So she had to, and even had to kill to prove she was not worth getting rid of until her time on the front lines was up. Until she had Raditz and Kakarot...

"That's an overly-simplistic way for a society to view people. All beings have the potential to be far greater than what they were born with, if that potential is trained properly." Said Kami.

Gine shook her head. "A nice sentiment, but that would've either gotten you laughed at or executed on Vegeta. For we evolved knowing that we were given our potential at birth, and it stuck with us forever no matter how much we grew. We grew in limits that created the classes we were put in based on our power. And power meant everything, from how you were treated to your life-expectancy."

The Guardian of the Earth didn't like that at all. "Survival of the fittest may apply to the evolution of species, but a specie's true test of strength should come from how they treat each other. You shouldn't be ostracized as weak simply because you did not have your kind's bloodlust."

Gine looked at Kami pitifully. "It's easy for you to say that when you are the strongest of all known lifeforms on your planet... and not have world-killers breathe down your neck. So it didn't really help me if I'm genetically predisposed to be lower than Low-class Saiyans."

She continued "And... no offense Kami, but I just don't see how what I learn here will ever compare to the Saiyans back home. Whatever potential you see in me, it might never bump me up to be more than a disgrace."

Kami regarded her for a long few moments, mulling over Gine's words. Gine felt bad for chewing him out slightly, for her revelations of how life worked on other worlds must have been troubling to him. But even if he was a Guardian, she believed he had no right to determine morality for a society he had little knowledge of.

He looked back into the depths of the temple crowning the center of the Lookout, then he turned back at her smiling.

"Well then perhaps your next stage of training may dispell that stigma once and for all."

"Huh?" Gine asked in surprise.

"I admit that it's 'skipping ahead' a little, but I believe that in order to shed light on how much your potential is truly worth and how to overcome your... hurdles of the training, I think you ought to experience the fruits of your efforts so far yourself. Which, as it so happens, there is way here on this Lookout that could make that possible. But I will warn you that this next stage is an actual trial that will test you physically and spiritually. And it could put you in great peril if you are not prepared. If you wish, of course." Explained Kami.

Gine had no idea what he was getting at, nor what he meant by 'shedding light' on his idea that her power was worth more than she realized. And to help her past her hurdles? As in the triggering flashback she experienced? And what could Kami possibly have to show her in order for her experience her true power? And it was dangerous?!

She was feeling hesitant, and not sure what to do. Already she told them that she was done for the day, and did NOT want to go through that part of meditation training again. If that was all it was going to be, she'd say to hell with the rest of the training if she could help it. And actual peril on top of that...

But, she did say that to herself before... and if nothing ventured...

For some reason or other unknown to her, Gine looked at her son for guidance.

Kakarot looked back at her and said, "I'd say go for it if it'll help."

As naïve and overenthusiastic as her son was, Gine knew that he knew the value of training better than anyone. And if he thought it would help her...

Gine turned to Kami and nodded. "Alright. Humor me."

"Very well then." Kami motioned his head towards the temple. "Come with me."

Gine followed Kami and Mr. Popo into the temple with Kakarot trailing behind her.

In the week they had been at the Lookout, Gine had never seen the inside of the central temple, and took in the labyrinth-like interior as they walked deeper and deeper inside. Carvings and glyphs covered every surface, engraved in the stone with such intricacy and age as if they were crafted by Guardians and caretakers of ages past. There was not much lighting, and the walls were as marble white as the titles outside. Like a cave, it felt cold and forbidding.

They turned a corner and Kami came to stop before a large door that slid open upon his command. Inside was a cylindrical room, it's every surface covered in the faces of grandfather clocks of varying styles and sizes. They all told different times. All of them clicked at unsynchronized speeds, creating a cacophony of ticks and tocks. Superimposing over the other clocks was a massive pendulum that swung eerily slow, back and forth. The circular room's interior was lit only by a slat opening that bathed the interior in a long rectangle of sunlight, itself looking like the hands of a clock.

Kami stepped inside as Gine walked in with him, Mr. Popo motioned Kakarot to stay outside with him. Gine looked around at the surrounding clocks.

"What is this place?" She asked curiously.

"This is the Temple Rotunda. Also known as the Pendulum Room." Kami answered, turning to face her. "All of time, all of history, flows to here. And with it, you could go anywhere and experience any event in the past."

Gine looked at Kami in disbelief. "You mean a time traveling room?"

"Wha?" Kakarot heard what she said and also gasped in amazement.

Kami shook his head. "Not exactly. Time travel itself is a violation of the laws of the universe. This room is strictly a projection room that allows you to interact with the past in a temporal-vision kind of way. As in you could physically fight strong warriors or meet important figureheads of the past, but you interacting with them or altering events would have no effect on actual time itself, so history would remain untouched."

"Ooooh." Gine said, and looked at the clocks again. "This room doesn't let you see events from the future?" She asked as she looked.

"No. Clairvoyance is only through the power of fortunetellers. Like Baba. But even then, it's nearly impossible to see the future as events are always in motion unless certain factors are in play." Kami said as he turned back around and walked around the pendulum up to a clock on the far side of the room. A circle lay in front of that particular clock.

"Oh." Was all Gine said. She failed to notice how uncomfortable Kami looked at the mention of Baba.

Gine wondered at how this unassuming room of clocks could do such a feat as see any event in history, and she thought of what the implications of time travel would mean. And there existed laws for time travel?

To her the idea of traveling through time seemed nothing more than flights of fancy. But her time on Earth has taught her that almost anything was possible.

"So... my next assignment is to fight someone strong from the past?" Gine asked, and saw Kami taking the hands of a clock out of his cloak.

"Yes. But not just any strong warrior." Said Kami, placing the hands of the clock in a way that would indicate the day, month, and year he was about to send Gine to. In a succession of magical incantations translated by quick taps of his finger on the face of the clock, he also put in the location.

"Then who?" Gine asked, feeling a sense of unease at the back of her mind that she couldn't ignore.

The clock face glowed a translucent blue, and in almost comedic style the clock grew in size to a circle as big as Gine's height. Kami waved her forward.

Gine's feet walked her forward even though something within her screamed that something was about to happen. She stepped around the pendulum and toward the circle that Kami stood in. The glowing clock face faded to reveal a dark opening.

"I won't give away too many details into who you are up against. But I will assure you that everything you see is more or less a vision. The places and people were real, and here they are apparitions. But the fight they will give you will be very real. Even though you cannot change events as they happen, the punches they will throw at you will feel as real and as deadly as they can be. And certain... characteristics will be as real as you remembered." Kami told her as she got closer to the black aperture.

Gine looked at Kami in shock. That wasn't something he warned her about back upstairs. The cacophony of tick-tocks seemed to grow louder somehow.

She reached the edge of the opening, looking into the darkness within. It was more than just a tunnel that lead to nowhere now, it was a yawning mouth that threatened to swallow her into a bottomless pit. Its dark interior was like starring into a black hole.

Then a thought occurred to her about what Kami said. "Wait, what do you mean by "as you remembered?""

Kami looked hopeful at her. "I'm sorry that what happened earlier in our meditation was trying for you, but in order to see what you are truly capable of, you must face the memories that are holding you back."

Gine looked back at Kami in shock and alarm. "Wait? WHAT?!"

"Good luck, Gine." Kami wished. The pendulum behind him stopped.

Suddenly, before Gine could say anything more, she was yanked off her feet and into the opening by an unknown pull.

She screamed in terror as she plunged headlong into the darkness, the round opening that held Kami looking after her receded into the distance until she couldn't see it anymore.

It was a complete abyss around her. Gine screamed and screamed and screamed. She had never felt so scared in her life, that no amount of near-death experiences could ever match the sheer fright she felt could make her heart explode.

Ghostly forms of misshapen clocked swirled past her, looking as if they had melted. In her panic, she saw that they at least formed a cylindrical path towards the direction she was falling. So at least she could tell up from down...

Pinpricks of light began dotting the darkness, as if she was flying through space.

The dots formed a long milky ribbon across her field of view forward, as if forming the night-sky band of the galaxy... she WAS flying through space!

A bright blue star appeared on her right, that moved slowly past her at a speed she knew was many times faster than light.

And directly ahead in her path, a planet. It grew in size until she could make out details.

A cold chill ran through Gine's soul. It was a planet she knew all to well. A planet she wished she could forget she had ever been to.

Rocky, dense rings orbiting it, and burning cities doting it's surface...

She was falling face first towards Xai Celnussia IV. Or as it would latter be called: Frieza Planet 138...

* * *

 **A/N: There we go! Gine begins to undertake some actual training, and maybe even a confrontation with the past as Goku did with a young Master Roshi in the show. What will she see on her spirit quest? And how will she prevail?**

 **Find out next time!**


	20. CHAPTER 19: XAI CELNUSSIA IV

**Greetings and happy springtime :)**

 **What will Gine see on her journey into the past? Let's find out!**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 19: XAI CELNUSSIA IV

A round hole of bright light opened before her in the darkness. She fell through it only to see the ground of the planet rush up to meet her before she could shield her face in time.

Gine cried out in pain as she hit the surface hard with her shoulder, bouncing from the impact with enough force to throw up rocks and dirt. Then landed again on her back, laying momentarily dazed.

The dust settled to reveal the dark opening she fell from directly over her. Above it, the sky looked very different. A deep purple with a whiteish hue, a grainy band of silver spanned from horizon to horizon.

As Gine regained her wits, she tried to process what just happened.

Moments ago, she was on Earth. Kami was just telling her about a round room of clocks that could send someone back in time. Then she had suddenly been sucked into a dark opening, falling for what felt like an eternity and transported to... here.

Gine grunted painfully as she pushed herself off the ground and back onto her feet. Her green dress-gi was covered in dust from the hard landing, but she didn't bother to brush herself off.

She looked back up into the sky just in time to see the black opening shrink until it disappeared. Gine momentarily dreaded if her only way back to the Lookout had vanished with it, and she had been sentenced to this place.

The view of the sky would have been breathtaking if she didn't know what this place was. The thick line across the sky was this planet's rings, of dense rock and minerals that orbited thousands of miles high, glistening like the starlight. It even casted a shadow from partially eclipsing the blue sun.

She could smell the metallic tang of the planet's air, and the scent of death mixed with it too...

Gine hesitantly looked around herself to take in the burning city she landed in.

It was just like from her memories...

Tall spires of skyscrapers that stretched high towards the heavens, their crystalline glass shattered and walls blasted apart. Metal glowing red hot from the myriad fires that blazed within the buildings. Thick palls of smoke trailing from them to blow over the surrounding mountains.

She walked through the ruined streets in deadened fashion, taking in everything. Her footsteps crunching the shattered bits of glass and dirt thrown about.

Blackened craters dotted the avenues and littering them with chunks of debris.

And the bodies. Corpses of pointy-eared, albino pigmented humanoids strewn everywhere in every stage of disfigurement.

They were the Xai Celnussians, the inhabitants of this planet. Some beaten to pulps, limbs missing, or others blasted to pieces scattered everywhere. Some of them lay in familiar long depressions in the ground, crushed in gory mess. As if they had been squashed by the giant foot of an Oozaru.

And the stentch… the way these beings smelled was more ammoniac than from what rotted flesh of other Saipan-races smelled like. But the smell of death was recognizable to her anywhere.

Gine eyes watered, not entirely from the smoke around her. She remembered this planet all to well...

A sound of harsh laughter broke the silence of burning fires. Gine wheeled around towards the direction it came, the hairs on the back of her neck standing. Someone was nearby, behind the rubble of a collapsed building.

Instinctively she ran toward the rubble and pressed her back against a flat surface, trying to keep quiet and suppress her energy. The laughing died down, and Gine perked her ears to listen for more as she scooted toward the corner.

"Looks like we got us some survivors!" Someone spoke.

"Oh great, nothing I hate more!" Came another.

There was more than one person, judging from the volume and distance. The speakers were male-sounding, with the first one having a sadistic infliction in his tone while the other sounded more like someone who was in charge. And hearing it sent chills down Gine's spine. She hadn't heard those voices in decades, but remembered vividly who they were.

Gine refused to believe she was where she thought she was, even as she reached out with her mind to sense the ki-signatures of who owned those voices. But she remembered what Kami said before she fell into that opening. What he said about time travel. What the room they were in could do, what it could show her. And... _the way she remembered..._

There were six signatures in total, just around the corner of where she was hiding. She felt that two of them were very low, and their resonance felt alien. The other four auras she recognized as Saiyan, including one that felt... extremely familiar.

She heard a scuffle from behind the rubble, then the Saiyan voices laughed mockingly.

Gine reached the edge of the corner, but was too terrified to peak. She feared that she already knew what it was.

A feminine wailing sound came from the scuffle.

"I think she's mad that we slaughtered her people." Came the malicious voice of a different Saiyan, chuckling.

"She is, huh?" Came the commanding one, then laughed hoarsely in such a dark sardonic way that made Gine felt ill.

"Well, do better at defending yourselves next time, weaklings!" He said, then came a kicking sound as the native alien cried out in pain. Another shrieking voice cried too, like that of a young child. It took all of Gine's restraint to not scream from her hiding spot.

"Leave them alone already!" Came a voice. Gine's heart nearly stopped in shock, her eyes wide.

It was _her_ voice.

She poked her head around the edge of the rubble, and saw them.

Gine had no idea what was so cryptic in Kami's words until now.

Four Saiyans, clad in the distinctive black and bronze armor of low-class warriors. They stood surrounding the cowering form of a Celnussian female. Three of them were large-framed men. One tall with long hair, the other two fat and round with nearly opposite heights of tall and short.

Naga, Onio, and Banno… She mouthed their respective names in horrific recognition.

The forth Saiyan, a short young girl who looked no older than seven... was none other than herself. And this younger self eyed the other three staring at her angrily, and she was afraid.

There was no denying it anymore.

This was the planet of her first actual purging mission.

* * *

When Gine was a baby, she was sent on an infiltration mission to a frontier world like every low-class Saiyan. Even though she was born with a power level of four, they gave her a chance still. She had been subjected to the brainwashing in her incubation chamber as an infant, inoculated for every disease known in the galaxy, and sent on her way to destroy all of the inhabitants of the planet she would land on.

But something must have went wrong. Either the programming never took hold, or her Saiyan bloodlust was never awakened; or, maybe she was never meant for the task. Once she arrived, Gine didn't attack the natives as she was instructed, and ran instead.

For six years after that, all she did was survive. She killed only what was necessary to sustain or defend herself on the jungle world whose name she couldn't remember. Her earliest memories were that of running from dinosaur-sized centipedes that threaded their way through the snake-like trees trying to eat her. She recalled how afraid she was, of the things out to kill her and how powerless she felt to do anything about it. It was all she knew.

Eventually, a Saiyan crew arrived to pick her up and assess the planet for sale on the market. But once they exited their pods, they were surprised to see the planet's biosphere completely intact, and immediately tracked her down with their scouters.

They were the first other Saiyans Gine had clear memory of seeing, even though she didn't know that she was of the same species as them when they found her running from the monster insectoids.

The squad leader, Naga, was tall in stature and had a long oval shaped head with medium-length hedgehog hair that reached his waist in tangles. He had the look of a trained killer not only eager for a fight, but also had the presence of mind to know how to command others on the battlefield. Perhaps he was once part of a class just above rock bottom, only to be demoted to crap jobs like this for either drinking on duty or pissing off the wrong higher up.

His two subordinates were twin brothers. Onio and Banno.

Onio had the nickname "Stinky", as his body odor was absolutely retched. Supposedly, he fell into a toxic pool of sludge that the defenders of one planet used as a booby trap to drown him. He escaped unharmed but the stench of it has never left him no matter how many times he bathed, and after a time stopped trying all together unless he was ordered to every once in awhile. He was as tall as Naga, but fat and had a ratty patch of dust-mop hair that sat on the top of his head.

His younger brother, Banno, was short and also round in shape. What he lacked in height (and hair) though was an intense cruelty in his eyes that sent shivers down the spine of any poor soul who made eye contact with him.

Then there was her. Filthy, lost, weak, and afraid of the glare that Naga and the brothers gave her.

They were very disappointed in her that not only had Gine failed her mission, she was fleeing from fighting the creatures like a coward. But in her young-preprogrammed mind, she didn't know any better when it came to not wanting to kill, and remembered wondering what she had even done wrong.

Naga's crew ended up slaughtering the planet's life for her, accomplishing it in only a couple days. Even though Gine spent most of her first years of life running away from that world's creatures, she remembered feeling sad that they had to die so horribly. Naga and his crew setting fire to the jungles and roasting the insectoids alive with their energy attacks.

She cried that day, and when the Saiyans returned to her and saw her weep openly, they beat her mercilessly for the disgusting display of soft-heartedness.

For her inability to complete her most basic task as a Saiyan and for the atrocious act of showing the least bit of empathy for an enemy, they were tempted to just kill her on the spot. But they had orders to bring her back to planet Vegeta, and did so with some barely concealed contempt thrown at her along the way.

Despite her mind not having taken hold of the programming, Gine was given the rehabilitation treatment to fit back into Saiyan society. She learned of their culture, their allegiance to Frieza, their mission, and the depth of her failure. But... she still hated killing. No one knew exactly why, as nonviolent Saiyans were almost unheard of in their history. The Frieza Force doctors who examined her thought she was a fluke, an interesting curiosity among their most volatile servants to the empire. But her fellow Saiyans saw her as nothing more than an outcast, like a diseased or malformed biological failure of their race to be mocked and shunned. And they held the final say in what to do with her, as she had failed her mission still, and by seven was too old to be reprogrammed again as it would have no effect. It also became apparent to her superiors that her reintegration may have made her more docile and only exacerbate the problem.

But, they couldn't just execute her outright. The Saiyan population was very low, having nearly fought themselves into extinction several centuries prior and their numbers were still recovering from the Tuffle War. It was a punishable offense for a Saiyan to kill another Saiyan unless they committed murder or treason, even more so if that Saiyan was female. With only a few thousand Saiyans left, they needed to get their numbers back up, and the males outnumbered the women nearly two to one.

The Saiyans couldn't waste themselves to infighting, however it was nearly impossible to temper their fabled bloodlust even if it was for the greater good. They would never let their own kind grow soft if they were to keep their reputation as the most feared warriors in Frieza's empire. It would be intolerable for a softy like her to get away with pacifism and taint future generations with her setting an example.

In the end, the Saiyan commanders among the Frieza Force ranks decided to give Gine one last chance to prove herself worthy enough to be called a Saiyan. She was to go with a planetary purging crew to the very next world to be conquered for Frieza. If she refused to kill or if she tried to flee, that would be grounds enough for her to be executed. If she succeeded... then they would not kill her. And she would just go on the next assignment afterwards as if nothing happened.

It was not a choice she wanted to make at all. She couldn't stomach the idea of killing millions if not billions of lives. Despite what everyone around her said about the strong over the weak, it was _wrong_. She didn't know why she felt that way, but something within her conscience told her that it was a universal truth that causing suffering for gain as the Saiyans and Frieza's empire did was morally abhorrent in the most extreme sense.

But there was nothing Gine could do about it. She was just a seven year old girl who barely registered a power level of eighty. She couldn't challenge this twisted and evil system of conquest, and she could do nothing to escape it. She was forever trapped in it if she choose to do what was necessary to live. And to her dismay, the next crew to be sent out just so happened to be Naga's.

To her, it was either die as punishment or die in battle, possibly from her own "comrades" if they hated her enough.

But at least she would have a chance to redeem herself in their eyes. If she could have at least a confirmed kill, she would be spared long enough to make it to her next assignment. And then the next if she only killed as little as needed, to try and cause as little suffering as possible to the unfortunate civilizations that the empire set it's eyes on. Hopefully, she might live long enough to finish her time as a warrior and find a way out of the front lines and into more support roles. Perhaps as a supply officer or a cook. She doubted if she'd make it until then, or even go through with what she'd have to do. But with a choice to make, she had no time to dwell on it and just get through the task at hand.

So she choose the mission. The next day, she was outfitted with new armor and a pod to fly with alongside Naga, Onio, and Banno again despite their grumblings of "babysitting" her.

And then off they were, to Xai Celnussia IV. According to Frieza Force reconnaissance, this world had an abundance of rare metals and other natural resources that would prove useful to be mined for the Planet Trade Organization. So they were ordered to take it, and leave no survivors if the inhabitants refused to surrender.

Of course the pointy-eared, albino Xai Celnussians refused to submit when they recognized them as Saiyans upon landing. They had them surrounded with energy rifles and demanded that they leave.

"Oh well, I was itching for some huntin' anyway." She remembered Banno joking before Naga began blasting away, and the other two following his lead. Gine reluctantly began shooting ki blasts in every direction.

They fought their way out of the landing site and made their way to the nearest city. Gine followed behind the trio and merely tried to defend herself from the shots taken at the group.

Once they reached the metropolis, they had to contend with battalions of warriors. Despite their weak power levels averaging one hundred each, they fought together as singular units and with lots of ferociousness. They hopped that their numbers and tenacity could repel the invaders.

Naga however fought them off easily. With a battle power of twenty-five hundred, he could take almost every wave of fighters thrown against him with barrages of punching attacks that sent the Celnussians flying into each other as projectiles. To him, he could throw them around like rag dolls, but if enough tried to gang up he could vaporize entire divisions of them if he could free a hand.

Banno and Onio, with power levels of a thousand each, had a harder time. Despite being brothers they hardly ever fought as a team and quickly got angry with each other if either of their kills were contested over, and received a few grazing shots from their lack of coordination. But like Naga, they were strong enough to incinerate them if they were overwhelmed.

All three of them were rejects among the lower-class ranks of Saiyans for such ill-structured team work and skills as warriors, but they were at least somewhat competent.

Gine however, was utterly out of place for this job. All she could do was try not to die, and she was terrified. With her power level of eighty, she could barely even take on one warrior. She knew she couldn't go against them in a one-on-one fight, but she also remembered the ramifications if she ran away. The other Saiyans would find her, and kill her for abandoning the mission. So she did the best she could by hiding for cover, firing energy shots randomly to hit something, and hoping to be near enough to the trio to take care of any attacker. She also tried not to think of all the killing going on around her, saying it was to save herself.

Her strategy would work and the Celnussian warriors trying to kill her would be mowed down by Naga and his men when they reached her. With the city cleared out and in flames, they moved on to the next one.

By the time they reached their next target however, the entire planet's forces had been mobilized against the Saiyans and were waiting to meet them at the second city. So, knowing that they couldn't take the Celnussians on the old fashioned way, Naga decided to pull out the trump card early and threw up a Blutz Wave energy ball.

Gine didn't fully remember what happened after Naga told her and the twins to look up, only to wake up hours later at an entirely different city to find it completely destroyed. But images flashed in her mind from the perspective of what she must have guessed was when she went Oozaru.

The Celnussians look of utter terror at the giant monsters that were her and her compadres stomping through the city defenses, the tiny soldiers shooting desperately at them with energy weapons that merely tickled her. Her mindlessly stomping them like ants, and the screams of the civilian populace fleeing before them. With wild fury she flailed her arms and mouth beams at all the skyscrapers before her. They looked as if they were asking to be destroyed, and her ape-mind was all to eager and kill crazy to resist that temptation. Then taking flying leaps across entire continents, landing from city to city and obliterating them with the shock of her impacts. Knocking down buildings, reducing entire blocks to ash, and sweeping armies aside. She felt unstoppable.

This continued well throughout the mission as the team made their way across the planet. Eventually, the Blutz Waves wore out and they reverted to their normal forms, as Gine found herself then.

She couldn't stop to think about everything as Naga and the others dragged her on to continue the mission. They had nearly wiped out all of the planet's population in their Oozaru forms, and now there were just a handful of outposts and towns left untouched by their wrath. With the hard part over, they went about with mopping up the rest of them.

Gine didn't take part and just held back and watched helplessly. Naga, Onio, and Banno grew tired of fighting hand-to-hand with what were now worthless weaklings to them and would just resort to vaporizing every warrior that came across their path and blowing up every remaining settlement with energy bombardments.

After a day, all life on Xai Celnussian IV had been eradicated. The few standing structures that were not outright obliterated were left burning and in ruins, the Saiyans had to keep at least _some_ of the planet's infrastructure intact. No armed resistance remained and every safe haven for the civilians to evacuate the planet was snuffed out. All that was left of a population of millions was just a few stragglers that Onio and Banno eagerly tracked down with their scouters.

Gine just stood in the middle of the ruined city, shocked to the core at the horror that had befallen on this world with her help. Naga stood behind her, arms crossed and observing their work with a semi-satisfied smirk. She dared not cry in front of him this time.

"Cleared out pretty good, no thanks to you." Quipped Naga.

Seven year old Gine wiped around to him. "I did my part. Okay?" She barely kept her sorrow in check.

"Ha!" Naga laughed hoarsely. "If you call letting us have all the fun and you just shooting wildly "doing your part"".

"I did what I had to and helped out when you needed it, so let up." She shot back, immediately regretting it when Naga took threatening steps toward her. She was short for her age and he was incredibly tall, as she barely reached above his knees.

"Are you tell me how to do my job?" He asked her coldly.

Gine shrank back, feeling like he was about to squash her. "N-no! I just-"

"I'm your squad leader, and I say you didn't do a damn thing!" He interrupted. Then swept his hands around to the surrounding carnage.

"All this was from us! The Saiyans! The actual ones who have any ounce of pride in themselves. Whereas you..." He pointed accusingly down at her. "Are a sorry excuse of one. And you didn't do so much as charge into battle as we did."

Gine sighed and tried to shake her head in acknowledgement. The easier she could pass off that she agreed with him the faster he'd leave her alone.

"There's only the strong and the weak in this universe! The strong Saiyans must destroy the weak filth of this galaxy, and we CANNOT have any weakness among our ranks. And that includes you. Understood?"

"Yes." Gine said reluctantly, just wanting Naga to shut up. But he just stared at her even angrier than before.

"I don't think you do... _weakling_." He spat at her. "YOU have failed our race when you failed to kill as the rest of us did as babies. Any Saiyan in his right mind should have just vaporized you when we found you. But you're far too lucky that the higher ups gave you another shot." He said that last sentence as if it were a curse.

"I wouldn't be so forgiving, and if it turns out that-" Naga started to say, but both his and Gine's scouters beep to signal Onio returning to their position.

Onio landed beside the two of them. Gine's nose stung and immediately held her nose, trying to not gag from the pungent smell. Even Naga looked annoyed and uncomfortable.

"Stinky, how many times have I told you to give me a little warning next time you show up?!" Naga complained.

"Fuck off, Naga!" Onio shot back. His response was met with a punch to the side of the face from Naga. Onio wheeled around and fell, cupping the side of his cheek Naga's fist hit.

"Don't get angry at me for something that's your fault, Stinky." Naga mocked.

Whatever trace of hurt Onio felt came and went in an instant. It's not his fault he fell in that pit, despite how everyone told how dumb he was to not see an obvious trap it was that day. But he replaced that feeling with mockery of his own when he set eyes on little Gine.

"Guess what, girly. Today's our lucky day. You know why?" He asked her.

Gine looked confused. "No, why?"

Onio placed a hand on his knee and stood up again. "Because our mission is officially complete. Our scouters show no survivors left of this rock!"

She felt her stomach drop within her.

"Oh, goodie!" Said Naga, then looked at her with an evil smile. "You know what that means?"

At first Gine didn't know what he meant, then her heart stopped.

Naga and Onio burst out laughing with such vigor and sick pleasure. Gine felt her whole world crumble around her.

She failed. In all this madness, all she had to do was kill at least one warrior. How could she have screwed this up? There were millions, and she shot randomly. She HAD to have shot someone!

"But-but I went Oozaru like you! I HAD to have crushed a few myself! You should know that!" She begged.

"Uh-uh." Naga shook his head with a tsk-tsk. "Doesn't count kiddo, any Saiyan can kill in that form. We had to get that killer instinct out of you in your regular state. And you failed. Besides, how are we supposed to confirm who squashed who out there?" He laughed mockingly.

Gine's blood boiled. In rage and despair. How could they just not accept that she had already killed in her Oozaru form? That she had to be as cold-blooded as they were? It was impossible for her, and Naga seemed all to happy to make that the case for her just to off her.

"Can I do it, boss?" Onio asked excitedly, aiming his open palm at Gine.

"No, I'm squad leader. I'll do it. My job to enact discipline around here." Naga gloated, and raised his hand to charge up some ki.

Gine fell to her knees, about to scream. Then...

All their scouters beeped, Banno was approaching too. Along with something else.

"Hey boss, lookie here!" Came Banno as he dropped two bodies at the center of the group.

Celnussians. A mother and young child, their garments torn to rags. The four Saiyans surrounded them.

"Looks like we got us some survivors, here!" He beamed. But Naga couldn't look more annoyed.

"Oh great. Nothing I hate more." He complained, having been robbed of the opportunity he was just handed moments ago.

The Celnussian mother looked up at Naga and locked it's dark eyes with his. The alien features seemed similar to that of a Saiyan, and looked at him with incredulity… and hate.

How could they do this?! The Celnussian was probably saying to them with her looks. She clutched the child in her arms as best she could.

The alien mother lunged at Naga, pounding on his tall chest in a futile attempt at rage. Naga chuckled at the effort, saw it as a fitting gesture for another inadequate race slain yet again and wailing in disgusting despair in their last moments on their destroyed world.

"I think she's mad that we slaughtered all of her people." Piped Banno, chuckling.

"She is, huh?" Naga gruffed, then bent over to stare down at the Celnussian in the face in mocking consternation.

"Well, do better at defending yourselves next time, weaklings!" He said, then kicked the mother in the face into the center of the circle. She cried out in pain while the child tried to help her mother.

The brothers started laughing again and began kicking dirt into the Celnussian's face.

"Come on up here! Take a shot at us too! Haha!" Mocked Banno, holding his arms out in an open invitation at the child who looked as enraged as the mother.

Young Gine couldn't stand it anymore. They were toying with them.

"Leave them alone already!" She yelled.

The brothers stopped laughing, and they with Naga glared daggers at her.

"What was that again, Gine?" Asked Onio, threateningly.

Gine shrunk, cursing herself for ever speaking up.

"I-I said... leave them alone. We-we've already won this planet." She stammered trying to explain. "Now lets just go."

Naga felt his eye twitch. He had enough of this pitiful softy. For a brief moment, he didn't care if he got punished for killing a female Saiyan, for he'd been demoted before. What more did he have to lose besides his pride?

They had given her plenty of chances, and now with just two survivors out of a planet of millions she wanted to call it quits and leave?! He didn't just want to kill her. He wanted to hurt this little bitch. Wanted to grind her to the ground, not just physically. But break her spirit, to put her nonviolent waste of a mindset in it's proper place in the dust with the rest of the weakli-

A light clicked on in his head. And he smiled.

He may not get his wish to act on that impulse to kill her, for the scouters would surely provide proof that he robbed her of a chance to honestly prove herself. But an opportunity _had_ been landed at his feet afterall...

"Oh no no, not so fast, weakling. Our orders are to purge ALL life on this planet. So..." He let his sentence hang.

But Gine couldn't help herself. "Can't we just, I dunno, put them into the slave labor division? They would at least make themselves useful." She tried to bargain, to find a way out for these two on the ground.

"Nah that's not acceptable." Said Naga, then decided to speak his idea. "But, no, I won't kill them."

That caught Gine by surprise, until...

"You will."

Gine looked at him in horror. "WHAT?!"

Naga's smile grew wider. He was going to enjoy this. If she was as much of a soft-hearted weakling as he thought she was, then being forced to execute someone would shatter her entirely.

To break this little twerp and get the job done at the same time. Win-win in his mind, probably the most brilliant idea he ever had in his bloody life.

"Time to get your hands dirty, kid." Naga said, then pointed to the two. "You've failed your infiltration mission and you barely helped here. So I'm ordering you, if you ever want to live to call yourself a Saiyan..." He spat at that implication, she was too pathetic to even carry that name if she succeeded today.

"Execute them, and we're done here."

Gine looked at the Celnussians in horror, and they looked back at her now as if they knew their fate had been sealed. They gazed at her in sorrow.

She began hyperventilating, she couldn't do this. As much as she tried to rationalize going on this assignment to get it out of the way, she never imagined it being like this. Killing in the heat of battle was one thing as horrible as it was, but an execution?

She cursed herself for ever being here, for ever being born.

"Please! Naga, I'm begging you, just let them go!" She cried out, tears starting to fall. The other three cringed at her show of emotion.

"Too bad, runt! You're doing it whether you want to or not!" Naga declared snidely.

"No, please! Don't make me do this!" Gine cried again, practically begging. Onio felt like he was going to be sick from the water works of her crying, and wanted to off her and be done with it, but Banno spoke up before he could act.

"Frieza's orders, kid. No survivors to be left on this planet, so... you do the honors!"

Gine didn't know what to say or do now. There was no way she could save them, and there was no way she could escape without dying. Part of her wanted to, for being in this living Hell. Now she was weeping, hiccupping in despair. She was angry at herself, at all of this. Why this? Why this life?! WHY HERE IN ALL PLACES OF THE COSMOS DID SHE HAVE TO BE A MURDERER?!

Naga had enough of her sniveling, and spoke to her in a dangerously calm voice.

"Do it, or I'll kill you alongside them too. Might be better off that way anyways, one less weakling. You are a disgrace and this is your only chance to prove otherwise. So, I'm ordering you one last time:" He raised a hand in her direction. Gine saw it through the blur of her tears and knew he was about to charge a ki blast aimed at her.

"Execute them." He demanded slowly.

There was nothing she could do now. Despite her grief-wracked state, she knew. She had to do it if she wanted to live. But how could she live with herself? She was about to commit murder. Not only a person, a defenseless mother and child. And the last two survivors of an entire species. It was the final act of genocide.

The mother and child looked at her as if expectantly. They knew that she was supposed to kill them, but... they did not look angry at her. Strangely, it was comforting.

She couldn't understand their language, but they must have known she did not want to kill them. That she was being forced to. And that there was no escape for them.

The mother made a mournful sound directed for Gine, crying in it's alien language. The mother covered the eyes of the child who was panicking and struggling to escape.

Reluctantly, Gine raised a shaking hand.

"DO IT!" Yelled Naga, a threat more than a command.

A ball of white ki emerged in Gine's palm, it hummed louder as she feed it all of the energy she could muster to make their deaths as quick and painless as possible. The Celnussian mother cried out again, this time in what sounded like a plea of mercy in their native language. One last chance to live.

But there was no going back now.

"I-I- I'm sorry!" Gine choked out.

She couldn't look them in eye, and at the last second Gine closed hers shut.

And fired.

The ground in front of her exploded, rocks and dirt flew everywhere that forced her to shield herself. Through the sound of the blast, she could hear the Celnussian mother and child's dying screams, shrieks of despair that faded with the wind.

The dust settled, and all that remained was a crater in front of her where she shot them. Not a single speck of ash remained. The last two Xai Celnussians, like the rest of their species, were now extinct. By her own hand.

A wave of nausea hit Gine. She fell to her hands and knees, vomiting whatever she had in her stomach onto the ground. Her hiccup sobbing returned in full force, almost threatening to choke on her upheaving.

"There, now was that so hard?" Naga asked in mock innocence.

"Could've aimed a little better." Banno griped as he brushed of the dust and rocks from himself, since he and Onio were standing next to the blast. But they were unaffected.

Gine didn't hear them, and just lay there shaking violently. She was distraught with guilt to a level she never knew existed.

What had she done? She had actually killed innocent lives. _A mother and child._ And they pleaded for her to spare them. She had helped her "comrades" wipe out an entire species. An entire culture and history, gone. Even any memory of them was to be gone with the last survivors.

As much as she could tell herself that she was forced to do it, it would never change the fact that she _did_ it. At least on her infiltration mission she killed to protect herself from actual threats. Here, this was quite the opposite of self-defense in her eyes.

This must have been what Hell felt like.

"Alright then!" Declared Naga in the background, typing into his scouter and paying no mind to Gine's breakdown.

"Xai Celnussia IV, mission complete. Purged, and now a territory of the Planet Trade Organization. New designation:..." He waited as the numbers came up from command.

"Frieza Planet 138." He said.

"Frieza could at least come up with a better system..." Onio's voice said, but it faded further and further into silence.

In her grief, seven year old Gine wondered if being executed herself would have been better afterall once she saw what happened. But she guessed that even if she did die, Naga and the twins would have purged this planet anyway. At least she wouldn't have been around to experience this pain, and damn herself for the crime she committed.

But she was alive. As much as she hated this, she had to admit that at least she could live another day.

Gine felt a boot kick her hard in the gut, knocking her off all fours and laying on her side. She clutched her stomach in a stunned daze.

"Get over yourself and stop your groveling, you little brat." Naga spat at her.

Gine eyed her commanding officer with pure hatred.

"We gotta get this place cleaned up before we can leave. Now hop to it." He barked at her.

There was nothing in the universe she wanted more than undoing what she did, but she really wanted to kill this bastard and the suck-up twin accomplices that made her do what she did. But she couldn't do anything about it, and hated herself just as much for it. So, her hate gave way to numbness.

"Yes sir." She said with no emotion in her voice whatsoever.

Moving almost mechanically, Gine got up and walked after Banno and Onio. They had to get the bodies of the fallen Celnussians together for incineration before the planet could be put on the market.

The young girl went about the task without saying anything throughout the rest of the mission, completely detached to everything happening around her. The passage of time and the exertion on her bodily vessel meant nothing to her as they piled the corpses up and vaporized them. She didn't even remember when they got back in their pods and flew back to planet Vegeta, but her senses eventually came back to her as they begrudgingly "congratulated" her for proving herself.

From that day forward, she was broken. Before she could have a long enough break to process what happened on that planet, she was already sent on her next mission. Again, she was forced to kill in order to defend herself and support her comrades. But at least with feeling nothing, she didn't feel fear either. The only thing she _could_ feel was guilt. For all the pain and suffering she would cause after that. But it would never amount to what she first did that set her down the path of being a Saiyan warrior. The looks of the Celnussian mother and child would haunt her forever.

She could die, or live long enough to enjoy whatever meager pleasures and comforts she could scrape up in this thing she called a life. But nothing would ever undo what she did. All she could do was get by and try as hard as she could to not experience that level of suffering on herself and others again. The little voice inside her still yelled strong despite everything, telling her that everything she was doing to help Frieza's empire was wrong, and spoke as her own voice sometimes when the injustices she witnessed were too great. But again she would be beaten down for ever speaking, and would be the cause of all the ridicule and bullying from her fellow Saiyans that would instill her sense of inferiority.

Every crew she met did nothing but make it their mission to torment her for how pathetic she was. Never offering her drinks, giving her scraps of food, avoiding her in mess halls, and kicking her around. The lack of basic comradery and the constant belittling she endured was soul-crushing, and deep down she didn't care for any other Saiyan to be friends or listen to her anyway, they were all the same bloodthirsty monsters their evolution made them out to be.

So she did what she could to heed to that voice and keep her head low. But over time that voice became less and less of a beacon of light for her, until it became just a blip in the back of her mind that only dictated her actions in the slightest. It would do her no good in this world aside from getting her in trouble and cause herself heartache.

She got to live afterall. But a part of her died back on Xai Celnussian VI, a part of her soul that had the will to stand for what was right. Now it seemed to her that strength really _did_ make the difference between making things happen the way you wanted them, or just submitting to the more powerful forces that made things happen around you. And with her weak potential given at birth, she was forever destined to be nothing more than subservient to the forces around her. And there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it.

As Gine grew into adulthood, she fought when she needed to and learned how to survive on and off the battlefield. She kept low to avoid ridicule. She would fail often, and lash out feebly in her lapses of reason and actually try to stand up for herself to only fail yet again and again. Sometimes, nothing mattered to her anymore, and didn't care if she lived or died even when she served her time and made it to the support roles. All she learned to believe in was that the world was a cruel place, and as much as she secretly wanted happiness and justice, she was never meant to know those things for the rest of her days.

Until she met Bardock. And the rest was history...

* * *

Gine's present self stood there as still as stone. All of the memories rushed through her mind from the very scene before her.

So far, Naga and the twins had not noticed her yet. Their backs were turned to her, with them focused on the Celnussian mother and child on the ground. And on her younger self, who was understandably too distressed to notice her either.

But she was certain if she did anything, their scouters would alert them to her presence.

"What was that again, Gine?" Asked Onio, threateningly.

This was too surreal for Gine. It was as if she was inside a bad dream, reliving her life from the perspective of her older self. Clad in the green gi she made on Earth, and her seven year-old counterpart wearing her female Saiyan chest armor and skirt. Both of them feeling just as frightened at what was happening.

Young Gine shrunk, cursing herself for ever speaking up.

"I-I said... leave them alone. We-we've already won this planet." She stammered trying to explain. "Now lets just go."

Naga's eye twitched. He looked as if he was contemplating about just blasting her on the spot, until a spark of inspiration appeared in his eye.

He smiled evilly, and Gine felt her heart pounding in her ears in terror.

"Oh no no, not so fast, weakling. Our orders are to purge ALL life on this planet. So..." He let his sentence hang. To hear the exact same words Gine heard all those years ago play out again before her and in her memory, sounded like she was hearing double.

"Can't we just, I dunno, put them into the slave labor division? They would at least make themselves useful." Young Gine tried to bargain, to find a way out for the two Celnussians on the ground.

"Nah that's not acceptable." Said Naga, then decided to speak his idea. "But, no, I won't kill them."

Gine knew what he said next, and could barely hear him say it over the sound of her terrified heartbeat.

"You will."

Young Gine looked at Naga in horror. "WHAT?!"

Naga's smile grew wider. Gine felt frozen in fear. As much as she tried to bury this memory in her mind, it was all flooding back in full detail. Right up to...

"Time to get your hands dirty, kid." Naga said, then pointed to the two Celnussians. "You've failed your infiltration mission and you barely helped here. So I'm ordering you, if you ever want to live to call yourself a Saiyan..." He spat at that implication.

"Execute them, and we're done here."

Young Gine looked at the Celnussians in horror, and they looked back at her now as if they knew their fate had been sealed. They gazed at her in sorrow. Present Gine couldn't see the look of the Celnussians from her vantage point, but remembered it very clearly. How it haunted her still...

Young Gine began hyperventilating, and so was her older counterpart.

Was she really going to witness this all over again?!

"Please! Naga, I'm begging you, just let them go!" Young Gine cried out, tears starting to fall. The other three cringed at her show of emotion.

"Too bad, runt! You're doing it whether you want to or not!" Naga declared snidely.

"No, please! Don't make me do this!" Gine cried again, practically begging.

"Frieza's orders, kid. No survivors to be left on this planet, so... you do the honors!" Banno spoke.

Present Gine didn't know what to do now. Her mind went blank, full of fear and anger. There was no way she could save herself or the Celnussians then, and now she was going to watch herself execute them all over again.

How could Kami do this to her?! How could he force her to re-experience her most painful private memory in such a perverse way?! How could he make he feel as powerless as Naga did?! DAMN HIM! DAMN NAGA!

Now Young Gine was weeping, hiccupping in despair. Naga looked fed up and spoke to her in a dangerously calm voice.

"Do it, or I'll kill you alongside them too. Might be better off that way anyways, one less weakling. You are a disgrace and this is your only chance to prove otherwise. So, I'm ordering you one last time:" He raised a hand in her younger self's direction to charge a ki blast.

"Execute them." He demanded slowly.

There was nothing her younger self could do now. Despite her grief-wracked state, she knew. She had to do it if she wanted to live. But how could she live with herself? She was about to commit murder. Not only a person, a defenseless mother and child. And the last two survivors of an entire species. It was the final act of genocide.

The mother and child looked at her younger self expectantly. They knew that she was supposed to kill them, but... they did not look angry at her. Instead, the Celnussian made a mournful sound directed for Young Gine, crying in it's alien language. The mother covered the eyes of the child who was panicking and struggling to escape.

Gine started shaking violently, her fists balled up tightly.

Reluctantly, Young Gine raised a shaking hand.

No...no, no. She couldn't relive this!

"DO IT!" Yelled Naga, a threat more than a command.

A ball of white ki emerged in Young Gine's palm, it hummed louder as she feed it all of the energy she could muster to make their deaths as quick and painless as possible. The Celnussian mother cried out again, this time in what sounded like a plea of mercy in their native language. One last chance to live.

Gine barred her teeth in rage, she clutched her fists so hard they started bleeding. She will not let this happen again. SHE WILL NOT!

"I-I- I'm sorry!" Young Gine choked out, her cheeks streaked with tears. She closed her eyes, about to fire the ki blast...

But then, all of their scouters started beeping rapidly. They detected the sudden rise of her nearby energy signature.

"NOOOOOO!"

Before they could turn their heads to see where that scream came from, the pile of rubble exploded into a cloud of debris. From it, Gine in a white aura shot out towards Naga.

Faster than he could react, her booted foot slammed squarely into his jaw.

* * *

 **A/N: And that's where we're gonna be leaving things for right now ;) This was a doozy to write and got longer than I thought it would be with a bit of Gine's backstory and how she was to face her fears as part of her spirit quest, so I'll split it in two.**

 **Next chapter: Confronting the past!**

 **Also, Naga = short for Naganegi (long onions), Banno = short for Bannonegi (green onions), and Onio = short for just Onion.**


	21. CHAPTER 20: CONFRONTING THE PAST

**Greetings again, and now time for Gine to face the Saiyans that broke her for life!**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 20: CONFRONTING THE PAST

A loud crack rang from Gine's flying kick to the side of Naga's head. His scouter shattered into a shower of fragments, her foot crunching some of those bits of metal and glass deep into his flesh.

The force of the strike to his head whipped it around hard, and yanked the weight of his body with it to send him flying away. He smashed through a collapsed wall, then another behind that, and finally crashed into a pile of rocks that half-buried him.

Gine landed on her feet and glared after Naga's fallen form. Her white aura dissipated along with the red hot rage that blinded her, and for some reason she then felt dizzy and weak for a few seconds. But she managed to keep standing.

"What the?!" Banno exclaimed.

She turned to see the flabbergasted looks of the brother Saiyans of Banno and Onio. It had been over thirty years since she had seen their faces, and the sight of them almost made her blood boil again.

Young Gine looked at her in complete shock too, having lost focus on charging the ki blast to vaporize the Celnussians.

Both past and present incarnations of Gine locked eyes with each other. The younger one feeling a strange bond with this powerful woman who came out of nowhere, as if she seemed familiar; the older one looked at her child doppelganger and felt pangs of sorrow at all the things she knew that her past self had yet to experience.

A furious and anguished yell came from the rock pile, drawing present Gine's attention. The mound exploded just as Naga burst out from it and flew towards her.

She sidestepped him just in time to meet a punch directed at her which she also deflected, and arching her back over a follow up kick that swept underneath her. As Gine moved, she noticed how Naga's movements were easy to dodge, like it was slow motion to her.

He swung at her again, and this time Gine used the force of the punch to press her hands on his arm to shove herself away.

Putting some distance between herself and Naga, she touched down and faced off with him.

She had forgotten how tall Naga was. Her younger counterpart barely clearing above his knee. Now, present-day Gine was just at chest height to him. And he was much more muscular than she remembered, his gloved fists as big as her head. His hedgehog-like hair not unlike what Raditz's mane was like, save for some forward facing spikes.

Naga glared at this mysterious attacker with barred teeth, some of which he spat out shards of. He held a hand over the eye where his scouter used to be, blood trickled down his cheek.

"Who the hell are you?!" Naga demanded angrily. He looked pained while speaking, she might have dislocated his jaw too.

Gine was temporarily brought back to her senses when she realized that Naga was talking to _her_. Her present self.

She glanced over to her younger self, whose hand had limply fallen by her side and forgot about the Celnussians she was destined to execute. Instead, she was enamored by the confrontation unfolding. The Celnussian mother and child looked at her too, just as drawn to this new development that saved their lives.

"Answer my damn question! WHO ARE YOU?!" Naga demanded again, threateningly raising an open hand at the intruder.

Gine stayed silent for a moment longer, staring back at Naga with hardened eyes.

"Don't you recognize me, Naga?" She asked coldly.

The taller Saiyan was taken aback by her reply. He looked Gine up and down, sizing her up and trying to discern her identity. He noticed her tail, immediately knowing that she was one of their own. But he had no knowledge of other Saiyans on this mission to this planet, and what were the fabric garments she wore?

"How the hell should I know?!"

Gine answered with a sardonic tone. "Oh, you already do. You were my squad leader for the mission to this planet. In fact..." She pointed towards her younger self. "I'm her."

There was collective "Huh?!" of confusion from the brothers, and looked at young Gine who shrank back at the attention pointed at her. But she did a double take to the woman when she processed who she said she was.

 _That's me?!_ She thought, feeling bewildered.

Naga looked at present Gine as if she was crazy, then looked at the younger Gine to see what this woman was getting at.

Young Gine starred back at Naga affrightedly, unsure of what he was about to do. But he looked back at present Gine, and back to Young Gine again. He whipped his head back and forth between the two Gines again.

He could see the similarities, but didn't believe it.

"What's the meaning of this?! Who are you really?! Her mother?!"

Gine shook her head truthfully. "No. My mother died while I was off on the jungle planet you found me on. After you had been demoted from commander for drinking. It's really me, Naga. I'm Gine."

Naga's remaining eye widened in shock, completely at a loss of words. Onio and Banno were just as baffled, and young Gine could only gawk in amazement.

"That's... that's impossible! You're from the future?! How?!" Naga stammered, trying to comprehend what was happening.

This wasn't really happening, it was all a projection. But it _felt_ so real. Way too much so, physically and emotionally. But Gine was also glad that what she did or said here would not enact a universe-ending time paradox. So she told him the truth.

"I was literally dropped here by a Namekian Guardian from a frontier world. For some reason he wanted me to see... something, I'm not sure." Gine said plainly, then added, "Oh, and Frieza destroyed planet Vegeta."

Saying that out loud made Gine wonder herself, why _did_ Kami transport her to a traumatic place and time in her life? And how could he even have the means and gull to do that? All that led up to here was they were having a disagreement over the values of strength. Then he said he wanted to show her something. But, what? And why? She was at a loss.

And so was Naga, looking as angry as confused by her answer. "Are you joking?! Am I supposed to believe that crap?! How are you here really?! Did Frieza send another crew?"

Gine thought for a moment, perplexed that hearing the extremely catching detail of Frieza's betrayal did not lead to any further questioning on that. Was the idea too preposterous to believe at all? Or was Naga not that inquisitive? But then again, she thought of Bardock, and how nobody believed him either on that fateful day all those years ago...

Perhaps since this was a vision, this projection of Naga was not aware that he, or it, was artificial? And could not formulate things that she didn't experience or think herself? It raised more questions than she wanted to think about.

"No, it's really me, Naga. I'm Gine." She repeated.

Naga shook his head. "Y-You can't be! You're a weakling! How were you strong enough to attack me like that?!"

That question made her pause. Gine didn't even think about how she could take on Naga herself, for she knew she never had the strength to even dream of laying a finger on Naga in a fight. Yet a moment ago, she somehow managed to plow him into the ground out of blind rage to stop her past self from falling down a path to a lifetime of suffering. With _one_ kick.

It felt utterly alien to Gine that she had been able to hurt someone who was stronger than her. Even if it was a surprise attack which was considered a cheap shot by Saiyan standards, it still made a difference in a serious battle. And she got a hit on him anyway.

It made her feel strangely confident, and it felt _good_.

With that in mind, Gine chuckled darkly at Naga. "With lots of push-ups and sit-ups."

Naga didn't like that joke one bit.

"Watch it, bitch." He warned dangerously. It was one thing to poke fun at sneak attacks, but an entirely different matter altogether to mock the Saiyan caste system.

To him, it set the established order of all life. The rightful order as it should be, the strongest at the top and the weakest at the bottom. It was the truest way to rule, regardless of what disgusting drivel egalitarianists spewed about. Even though he wasn't the king or even above low-class, he respected the social hierarchy that made the foundation of Saiyan society. Everyone knew their place from birth, and from it their maximum growth. The stronger you were a birth, the more you could grow. If you barely registered a power level, you were nothing more than trash. There was no way around it, and the sooner everyone accepted it, the better things were. And it would allow them to conquer the universe one day.

And to hear that this girl had defied it by having the guts to claim she got stronger than he knew what she was born with? It was nothing but heresy. It had to be.

"You might not believe it." Gine said seriously. "But it's true. I am from the future, and I'm not the same person I am here."

Naga stared at her for a second, getting more agitated by the treacherous implications of her talk.

He pointed at her past self. "If you're the weakling I know she is, then you shouldn't be able to touch me!"

Gine thought of her past self's power level then and what her own must have been now, and how it would make sense to Naga that she by all rights would never harm him.

She then thought of Gohan. Of how he disagreed with the idea of power levels. And how he proved it...

"Yeah, well I _am_ that same girl. And I _did_ manage to hit you. Like you used to tell me: expect the unexpected." She shot back. If she learned anything throughout her life, and especially during her time on Earth, it was that surprising things can and will happen.

Naga had enough of this nonsense. He would not tolerate any further trash talk against what he had been born and raised in, and thought of teaching this girl the last lesson she would ever learn.

"I don't care who you really are or if you really are from the future. But you're gonna pay for what you did to my eye, bitch." He growled.

He lowered his hand to reveal the whole side of Naga's face was riddled with shards of his scouter embedded in his cheekbone. His ruined eye was shut from a shard of glass jutting out from it, bleeding profusely. It made the murderous look he gave her seem that much more menacing.

"Banno! What's your scouter read?" Naga barked over his shoulder to his subordinate.

The short, bald Saiyan focused the screen on present Gine and pressed a button on the side of the device. Naga braced himself for what it would say, and ready himself for a fight.

After a few seconds of beeping, the scouter chimed the final numbers.

"Hmph. Only six-hundred and fifty, sir." Banno read the stats out aloud, sounding bemused.

Gine's heart sank.

 _That's all?!_ She thought dreadfully.

Naga looked almost relieved at hearing that, then his attitude turned more arrogant.

"Oh no! Did you hear that boys? Six-hundred and fifty! Please, don't hurt us!" He declared in mocking surrender, raising his hands.

Banno and Onio, who were standing quietly to the sides started laughing too, feeling their sense of control over the situation return if their leader felt the same.

Gine could only stand there and take the mockery while despairingly mulling over what the power reading meant to her.

While she wasn't entirely surprised that she hadn't improved by a large margin above five-hundred in the last fifteen years, she thought she could have at least grown a _little_ more than what normally would take a Saiyan a few months to attain through natural aging. Was she really that pathetic and weak?

Finished with making fun of her, Naga turned serious.

"Well, I hate to break it to you, but you wasted your time coming all the way here, "Gine."" He spat her name out sarcastically. "For in case you forgot, _I_ sit at a power level of twenty-five hundred! While these two..." Naga thumbed toward Banno and Onio. "Sit at a thousand each. Do the math."

Gine looked to the brother Saiyans, who leered at her with the same looks as Naga. She had decades of experience in life and had been subjected to every kind of abuse known to Saiyans, yet the ridicule pointed at her from their looks alone was enough to make Gine feel as powerless as a child again.

Naga looked threateningly at her. "You may have gotten in a lucky shot on me when my back was turned, but rest assured that will be the last lucky shot you will ever have."

Gine felt fear grip her chest.

"Before I kill you, tell me why are you here anyways." He said, widening his stance in preparation for battle.

 _This is not real, it's all a vision._ Gine kept telling herself. But she still felt so scared.

Could he kill her? She had been so caught up in bling rage with attacking Naga that she hadn't considered the consequences of this vision.

Kami wasn't clear if she could actually die from injury, but he did mention that the punches and attacks thrown at her would feel very real. So far, every hit she nearly sustained from that first scuffle felt real enough. In all likelihood, she could be killed if she was hurt enough.

Would he kill her past self too? Even if young Gine followed up with doing what she was forced to do? Gine couldn't stomach either of those things happening, but what could she do? It was just her against three.

She started mentally cursing herself for jumping Naga like that. Nothing she did here would change the past no matter how much she wished she could. But she had let her emotions take control of her, unable to witness for a second time something she had to live with. Now, she was staring down an enraged Naga. He will most likely kill her, and she had no way of knowing if Kami and Popo were somehow watching from where they sent her from, if they could get her out of this situation, or even if they _would_. Did Kami really leave her on her own?

"Fine, don't answer that then." Naga said in annoyance, ready to attack her.

"I..." Gine heard herself say.

He paused, curious that he got a response from her.

"I... came here to stop you." Gine said, thinking she sounded lame.

"Hm?" Naga raised an eyebrow, also sensing her uneasiness.

"Stop us? From doing what exactly?" He asked for clarification, with a rather taunting note in his voice.

Gine sighed, and forced out her answer. "To stop you from... making me, _her_..." She corrected, looking towards her younger self. "...execute these people." Her tone dropped off near the end, as if she already knew her statement was a futile effort.

Naga could only stare at her for a few seconds, then he burst out laughing. Despite the cracked jaw and the extreme eye injury, he couldn't help himself to the ridiculousness that was before him.

"Is that so?" Naga asked derisively, recovering from his little fit of laughing. "Are you seriously here all the way from the future just to save some worthless trash?" He said, gesturing towards the Celnussians who stood there quietly afraid. They eyed Gine especially unsure what to think of.

The ridicule and laughing did nothing to alleviate Gine from the humiliation she felt mounting on her.

"Wow, you really are?" He said, taking her silence as an answer. Then leaned in with mock sternness. "And how, pre-tell, were you going to do that? By fighting us?"

Gine still didn't answer, wishing as hard as she could that she was somewhere else now.

Naga snorted. "Well you certainly have high hopes, runt. But you are way out of your league thinking that lower-than-low class scum like you could take me on."

He then returned to speaking seriously. "Not to mention that you are a traitor for resisting a direct order from Lord Frieza himself, to purge this planet. AND..." He added with punctuation. "You owe me an eye." He pointed a finger at his destroyed eye and then pointing it to her face, as if to her own eyes. It made her think of that saying of equal justice and revenge: _An eye for an eye._

"So...how about this: I kill you, and these "weaklings" alongside you." He spat, pointing towards the Celnussians.

In Naga's eye, it was more than she deserved, even with what she did to him. The mere fact that a Saiyan such as Gine actually wanted to protect this garbage was a level of treason and weakness that was too repulsive to think of.

He then pointed to young Gine, who backed away. "Then, I'll blast your younger self here as I should have just before you rudely interrupted our mopping up!"

Naga then turned to the real Gine, looming over her as he talked town to her. "And if you really are from the future, then I'm sure you'll disappear too, right?"

Gine was surprised at how he came to that conclusion of the laws of time paradoxes. Naga wasn't the smartest of Saiyans, but he wasn't stupid.

"OR!" He suddenly said that made Gine jump. "You could _try_ to run like the coward that you are... who knows, maybe you might escape. Hell, I'll even give you a head start!"

Naga bent his head down to give an ultimative glare. "And that will be your only chance to live."

He was right. Gine would be toast if she fought him head on, forget Banno and Onio as well. Managing to hit Naga like she did was just a fluke. How the hell was she going to get out of this?

And Gine realized: she won't. She was going to die here. Like the helpless inhabitants of this planet.

Her stomach dropped out from inside her, a feeling of hopelessness she hadn't felt since the day planet Vegeta was destroyed.

Gine's gaze wandered to an invisible spot on the ground.

This was it, this was the end for her...

"I'll take it that you'd rather die here instead then?" Naga gloated, seeing as how Gine hadn't moved or responded to his taunts.

"I don't blame ya... Wait, what am I thinking? I do actually! You're just a sniveling coward who can't face the fact that your about to be taken out with the rest of the garbage."

Gine didn't know if Kami or Popo could see what was transpiring. But if they could, she cursed them as violently as she could for practically throwing her into this trap. How she wished she could just beat each of them to within an inch of life for torturing her soul and ending her existence like this! How could they do this to her?!

And Kakarot...

The thought of never seeing her son's smiling face again again, to never see him grow up, made her feel the full magnitude of how much she messed up by interfering. Tears formed in her eyes and her knees wobbled as despair began to get to her, and Naga took notice.

"Tsh, look at you. Crying." Naga spat with disgust in his voice. "You're pathetic. A disgrace to the Saiyan race. And I ought to just go ahead and waste you right now."

Gine tearfully turned to her young self, who had been deathly silent during this entire exchange. She looked back up at her older counterpart as a frightened child would to a parent for dear safety, to tell her that everything would be alright...

The elder Gine's tears suddenly stopped, and she stared into her younger self's wide open eyes for a long time.

She remembered how as a little girl she knew that killing was wrong. Despite being born into a harsh world, she wanted no part in the life of a Saiyan warrior. That she truly believed in justice, to stand for what was right, and being kind to one another. She was, as elder Gine could see, the innocent girl she once was. A freak of nature in the Saiyan race that was the little blip of light in a sea of darkness and evil.

Until this day when Naga broke her, by making her kill the innocent people that lay on the ground here. And with it, being forced into a lifetime of servitude, subjugated to maltreatment for her inferiority, and to destroy her soul to partake in the bloody conquest of countless worlds. Decades of pain and suffering that grounded down her spirit into dust and replaced it with nihilism and misery. Molding her into the broken woman she was today.

This was the day that defined her life, one of accepting her fate and losing all hope. To never rise above her station, never to stand for what she believed in, never to right the wrongs of the world around her, and to never know true happiness.

And now she was just going to give up and accept her fate, all the while letting her past suffer the same? Was this all her life would lead up to? To fail herself?

"No." Gine said quietly.

Naga and the brothers, as well as young Gine, perked their heads in surprise by her answer.

She couldn't just let this happen.

Yes, she is weak. Yes, she cannot change anything here. Yes, she could die. And yes, she may never see her own child again...

But, she won't just give up or run away like a coward. She had done nothing but run away from danger her entire life, and lived in fear of death for enacting on the things she truly believed in.

No more.

"What was that, runt?" Naga asked again in a disappointed tone.

Feeling a wave of overwhelming defiance wash over her, Gine turned to Naga and squared her shoulders, facing him fully with fists clenched by her side and her feet planted firmly into the ground.

"No!" Gine simply repeated. She then got into her defensive fighting stance.

"I won't run from you. I'll fight you!" She declared with every ounce of conviction in her being.

While she was here, while she stood, while she breathed, she will fight.

Naga was genuinely amazed at her show of bravery in the face of impossible odds, laughably pitiful to him as it was. But, whatever flickering sense of respect he felt for her facing an enemy like every Saiyan with any pride in them should, was replaced with anger that she dared to insult him by refusing to atone for what she did to his eye. She was just going to make things difficult.

Oh well, at least he was still going to put her beneath the dirt where she belonged.

Naga gave her a deadly calm glare with his one good eye. "Have it your way then."

The two Saiyans starred each other down with contempt in each other's gaze. Both of their tails frayed behind them, sensing the oncoming battle.

Gine looked at him and thought of all the unfathomable pain that he inflicted onto her conscience that haunted her whole life. She thought of all the destruction he forced her to partake in across several civilizations, and the billions of innocent lives he slaughtered with such pleasure. And all of the lives he would slaughter after this planet. He was the root cause of all her emotional trauma, of all of her fears.

And now she was about to face him, as she should.

Naga looked at her and wanted nothing more than to pulverize this traitorous filth into a bloody mess. Even if she was who she said she was or if she came from the future, how DARE she take his eye and make him have to exact his due revenge himself! How DARE she refuse to know her place and defy him! HOW DARE!

Naga flexed his arms and crouched, letting out a loud roar as he charged up his energy. A blue-tipped flame aura erupted around him like a geyser.

"Welcome to your last battle, runt! This is what you get for messing with me!" He yelled at her, before screaming even louder. The ground shook as he brought all of the ki he had to bear.

Gine could feel the power emanating from Naga, how much it overshadowed hers, and how he was about to bring it all down on her.

She started sweating nervously, but resolved to do what she could. She was NOT going to abandon herself.

Collecting herself, Gine did the same as Naga and clenched her fists, letting out a powerful yell to summon all of the ki she could muster.

It swirled from deep within the core of her being and she released it all with shouting at the top of her lungs, a faint aura flared up from her. It had been so long since she had to bring forth all of her power at once.

The whole area around the two shook violently, the wind blowing hard enough to make Banno, Onio, the Celnussians, and young Gine shield their eyes.

Naga shot at her with blinding speed, going for a body slam...

But Gine saw it coming. She easily stepped out of the way and he blew past her.

He saw that he missed, and rolled over to land on one foot and spring at her again with a flying punch this time. Again, Gine let him graze past her just barely, and swiped her hand on the larger Saiyan to direct him away from her.

Naga looked at her with surprise that she was able to dodge his attack again, and felt impatience rising too. He phased out from sight to reappear by Gine's side to deliver a kick to her torso for a quick kill.

 _He's sloppy._ She thought, noticing how he moved during the fight, and thinking of what Gohan taught her all those years ago about defending yourself against someone stronger.

Gine jumped to avoid the roundhouse that would've cut her in half, and used the opportunity to be eye level with him and deliver a kick of her own to his face. It didn't hurt him as much as her first, but it caught him off guard.

She was surprised at how she was managing to evade him, and land these blows on Naga.

Naga meanwhile, feeling undignified of her foot in his face a second time, tried to reach out and grab her. But Gine was one step ahead. Using her small form to her advantage, she coiled her arm around his and swung downwards and around his torso like a snake to land another upward kick to the back of his head.

He staggered forward a little, then spun to face her.

"You little bitch!" He growled in irritation, then drove at her with a punch.

Gine got out of the way as Naga's fist plowed into the ground like a meteor, blasting away dirt and rocks in all directions. Then he swung the same fist up to try and hit her again, but she backflipped to get out of his reach. As she did so, she flung a hand out and fired a small ki blast aimed at his face, then switched hands to land with and fire a second blast.

He swatted away the first blast like it was nothing, but the second one hit his face square on. It did no damage itself to him, but it heated the scouter fragments in his cheek and eye to singe his flesh. He cried out in pain, holding a hand to the burning side of his face.

The remaining eye flared up with anger as hot as the glowing metal in his skin, and gritted his teeth to form the face of a deranged killer.

"Gaaaahhhh!" He screamed in fury, then charged after her with a barrage of punches. Naga had Gine on the backfoot, but she twisted and twirled around his onslaught of punches with effortless grace.

"HOLD STILL, GODDAMNIT!" He yelled, his frustration replaced by adrenaline and rage. But Gine still kept dodging his attacks.

He was stronger, a hit from those punches would take her head clean off. But she saw how sluggish he was in his movements. She felt a weird sense of Deja vu in how she used to fight like him, against Gohan. And against Mr. Popo. Relying entirely on brute strength against your opponent...

 _Redundant moves,_ she thought with sudden realization.

Seeing an opening in his attack, Gine stopped her retreat and sprung up between his arms and punched him square in the jaw.

She cleared over Naga's head with a front flip and landed a good distance behind him while he howled in pain.

He turned again to face her, holding a hand to his jaw. She must have hit him where she cracked it earlier.

Before, he was infuriated with her. Now, his eye looked to be on fire with pure hatred.

Naga screamed incoherently, and he launched himself high into the air above.

He held both arms out from his sides, and two white orbs of ki emerged from his hands that grew to half a meter in diameter each. He was fed up now.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!" He shouted down at her, then flung the two spheres of burning light toward her.

Gine didn't hesitate and put some ki into her jump backwards. The two blasts exploded where she stood moments ago, sending out a powerful shockwave and rain of debris outwards that she had to shield herself from.

Naga saw that she got away from the blasts, and screamed again. He then fired a volley of ki blasts at her, a storm of energy to carpet bomb the landscape and box her in, and hopefully vaporize her.

But she dodged the strikes as they made landfall, hoping away from each new explosion.

Naga kept firing, getting angrier and angrier that Gine refused to get hit. And thus the rage fueled to keep up his energy bombardment, and followed after her as she got further away and had more time to see and dodge each new volley.

As Gine hopped, they got farther and farther away from the brothers and her younger self. Slowly, a plan started to form.

She wasn't strong enough to kill him outright, but if she could get Naga far enough away...

A fast ki strike nearly cut her off, forcing her change directions in her fleeing and to focus on surviving for the moment.

Overlooking the fight from a distance, Banno and Onio looked on in utter amazement. To say that the unexpected change from mopping up the planet to this was jarring seemed quite fitting. Out of nowhere, a female Saiyan who claimed to be the pathetic little Gine from the future, had attacked their leader Naga and was now locked in mortal combat with him. And judging from how long it's ben going on, Naga was having trouble. They never saw him fight so vehemently against another opponent before, and they were disturbed to see how someone with a far weaker power level could survive for this long. But they had to admit that the fight was truly something to see.

Also during all this, they had lost interest in young Gine and the native Celnussians just off to their side.

The mother couldn't comprehend what was happening, but they knew the Saiyans were distracted.

She looked around and saw the outcropping of collapsed buildings that the stranger had burst forth from. If she could sneak herself and her child around the rock and towards it, they could try to sneak off.

Young Gine was drawn to watching the fight too, seeing her future self weave her way between ki strikes. It was the most surreal thing the seven year-old Saiyan had ever seen, and she felt a mixture of feelings she didn't understand how to process.

It was hard to believe that woman was actually her from another time, but she felt an actual connection when they locked eyes for a moment. And knew it was her own eyes even before she revealed who she was. And even though those eyes looked so... sad.

So many questions formed in her head. About where she actually came from and what the future was like. And most of all, why was she so sad? What happened to her?

Moments ago, young Gine was on the brink of being forced to murder the Celnussian mother and child on the ground, and was suffering the worst kind of emotional breakdown that any sentient being could experience. Then this woman who claimed to be her own self from the future came right at the moment she was about to commit an unforgivable act.

Did she really come to prevent it from happening? If so, it meant her older self had done what she nearly did, and this Gine had a pain on her conscience she couldn't fathom, and had lived a broken life because of it. It made her feel grief for the older version of herself that had to suffer bearing that guilt, and made her shudder at wondering what other things would have happened to her own self if she carried out the deed.

Thinking of the Celnussians, she turned to glance at them and froze.

The mother cradled her child to keep it quiet, and was slowly inching her way from Banno and Onio. Young Gine knew she was trying to slip away unnoticed.

The Celnussian mother turned to look at he, and froze in place.

Both the young Saiyan girl and Celnussian mother sat paralyzed with fear while locking unblinking eyes at each other.

The alien's expression changed to that of great sadness, realizing she had been caught and that death for her and her baby was certain.

Young Gine didn't react. Which the mother took notice of and felt... no, she couldn't dare to let herself hope. But...

The little Saiyan, staying as still as she could, eyed Banno and Onio still gawking at the action unfolding. Her gaze then turned to the fight, with Naga still having her future self on the run but holding firm. They were drifting further away from their vantage point, now a few thousand yards off.

The Saiyan girl's eyes drifted back to Banno and Onio. So far, no one seemed to notice her or the Celnussians.

Could she?

She risked certain death for letting them go, but if she used the excuse of being distracted like everyone was...

Making a decision, she gently turned back to the Celnussians. Then, young Gine subtly jerked her head in the direction where the mother was leaning towards, motioning her to take the chance to escape.

The alien mother's facial expressions morphed into a mixture of immense relief and gratitude that would've translated into crying for a Saiyan. It bowed it's head as a thankful gesture at her, and silently crept on all fours to crawl away.

Naga or the brothers would kill her for sure, but young Gine didn't care. She never wanted to execute these poor creatures, and she took the chance to let them live.

As young Gine watched the mother and son get further and further, she felt like a prayer had been answered. The Gine from the future had indeed stopped her from killing, and sparred her soul as well as those two innocent lives. As impossible as it was to escape from the reality of planet purging under threat of death from Naga, a miracle had nonetheless happened.

And she hit Naga! Which made her wonder how that was even possible. She heard that she only had a power level of six-fifty against twenty-five hundred. But, how was she managing to hold her own? She didn't understand why, but... she was okay with it. In fact, it gave her hope.

Was she stronger than what everyone told her? That she could become more than what the doctors predicted for her after she was born? It was an exciting and uplifting thought, and it made her want to cheer her older self on and beat that bastard!

"Hey! They're getting away!" Came Banno's voice.

Young Gine's blood ran cold when she turned to see Banno pointing after the Celnussians crawling away, they too looked back at Banno with eyes wide in shock.

 _Oh no..._ Young Gine thought in horror.

"NOT SO FAST, YOU PIECES OF FILTH!" Banno growled, then opened his hand pointed at the helpless natives.

"NO!" Young Gine yelled in alarm. Without thinking, she sprung after them with all the strength and energy in her legs as Banno fired a large ki blast to disintegrate the Celnussians.

She reached the mother and child, and shoved them away while she just narrowly missed the ki blast. The resulting explosion propelled her and the Celnussians away with such force as to make them crash against the surrounding rock outcrops.

The mother and child yelped from the impact, but were more or less okay. Young Gine slammed back first and upside down into a boulder and dropped to the ground, groaning in pain.

"What the hell?" Naga tore his attention away from the fight and looked toward the commotion that was developing.

Gine noticed too and looked to see a cloud of smoke and dust clearing from a ki blast fired by Banno.

Her heart nearly stopped in panic at seeing her own younger self laying motionless on the ground.

"BOSS!" Onio called up. "SURVIVORS TRIED TO ESCAPE, THE LITTLE RUNT WAS HELPING THEM!"

Gine looked at Onio, then back to her young self. In her panic, she also felt joy. Awed and touched that the girl she used to be would have actually done what she wished she could've done all those years ago.

Her past self tried to save them!

But Naga didn't look so happy. His good eye twitched, he had seen it all now. He knew that waste-of-Saiyan-blood girl was trouble, and now she was willingly helping the enemy?!

Now he didn't need an excuse to kill Gine's younger self.

Young Gine tried to get up, but struggled. She fell back on the ground, as helpless as the Celnussians.

Overhead, Naga raised an arm and charged up a large white ki blast.

"THIS IS WHAT TRAITORS GET!" He shouted down at her, then fired.

"NO!"

Gine phased to her past self with blinding speed and scooped her up, evading the deadly energy attack at the last moment. She dived on top of the fallen Celnussians when it hit the ground.

The blast was deafening, but Gine pressed her body against the aliens and her past self to shield them from the heat and sand.

When it subsided, and Gine propped herself up. The Celnussians were unscratched by the attack, looking up at her with a look of what she guessed would be "that was close".

Young Gine groaned in pain still, but had regained consciousness. She looked at her older self on top of her, grateful to still be alive.

Gine looked around, they were shrouded by a thick cloud of dust thrown up from the explosion. Naga still floated above, but neither he or the brothers could see through the screen of dust particles.

 _I have to get them away from here_ , she concluded. The dust swirled around, but she could sense the other three Saiyans trying to search for them. With Naga's scouter crushed into his face, Banno and Onio tried to scan the area.

Gine suppressed her energy...

 _Wait, they can't sense energy!_ She realized.

But they still had scouters, if she could disable them somehow...

Deciding on her next course of action, Gine charged up two small yellow orbs of ki in each hand. She had to be quick and hoped the dust would obscure her movements.

She heard Banno's and Onio's scouters go off from her ki charging, using her ears to hone in on the sounds of the beeping, she flung the two blasts toward the sound. The ruckus of two small energy bursts, followed by the yells of surprise and pain signaled for her to seize the opportunity to escape.

Gine scooped her younger self in one arm, and with the other yanked up the surviving Celnussian mother clutching her child for dear life. Then Gine leapt forward, flying low to the ground so the dust would cover her tracks, but didn't go too fast as to accidentally slam into a wall.

She hoped like hell she hit both of their scouters. If they had even just one still functioning, they would track her down for sure. So she tried to keep a balance of setting a good pace and suppressing her energy. If anything, she hoped she would at least slow them down.

After a mile, the dust cleared and Gine went as fast as she could. Up ahead, Gine saw the ruins of the destroyed megacity, and headed towards it.

She flew low to the streets and threaded around structures in random order. She wanted to put as much distance between herself and the Saiyans, and throw them off if she was being tailed.

As she retreated, Gine tried to think of what to do next. If this was a vision, how was she supposed to get out of it? Was there a time limit or exit? Did she have to win the fight or some other objective? She had no idea, and tried to fight off the urge to panic when she thought of the possibility that there was no way out here, that she was stuck here.

 _Why did Kami had to just throw me in here without explaining anything?!_ She screamed internally.

The only option she could think of was to steal one of attack pods that the Saiyans arrived in, which if she remembered correctly, was on the other side of this city.

Would Naga and the brothers suspect her of doing that? Maybe. And would she need to steal at least two of them to fit all four of them? Where would they even go?

So deep in thought that Gine nearly rammed through a glass building, only to roll to the side out of the way at the last instance.

She had to land and think of a plan, she couldn't do it while scud running.

Rounding another corner, about several miles deep into the labyrinth of burning buildings and rubble, Gine stopped and surveyed the area. It was a narrow alley sandwiched between two spires that stretched hundreds of feet high, providing shelter from nearly all vantage points.

Gine reached out with her senses, and didn't feel a living thing nearby.

Feeling safe that the Saiyans hadn't followed her, Gine floated down to the ground. Young Gine landed on her feet and the Celnussians were set down gently.

The mother and child looked around, a quiet wailing escaped from them at seeing the destruction befallen to their civilization. And then turned back to Gine. She regarded them with immense regret that something so horrible had to happen. But the alien mother walked up to her and surprised her with taking Gine into it's spindly arms in this being's equivalent of a hug, thanking her for saving the life of her child and herself.

Gine's heart felt so touched by the gesture, but it clenched with aching pain that this saving of their lives was not real. But she wished with all her being that it was.

She gently patted the alien's back and tried to get them to calm down, they didn't have much time until Naga came after them.

Young Gine looked around, seeing that they were not in immediate danger. She then looked back up her savior, who lost track of thinking of a plan and was completely focused on her little doppelganger.

They locked eyes, and immediately felt the connection that they briefly shared when she saved the Celnussians.

"Are you really me from the future?" Young Gine asked, still in disbelief and couldn't help herself but try to be certain.

Gine looked at her younger self. She had the same shoulder-length hair style that never changed since birth, the same thin female-Saiyan complexion, and had the same large expressive eyes as she did.

Young Gine was less than half her height, and had the distinctive black and bronze trimmed Saiyan armor lined with the skirt for female warriors. A sharp contrast from the self-knitted dress gi that the elder Gine had. But most of all, young Gine's eyes held all the innocence and naivety that she once had. The eyes of someone who truly believed in compassion and abhorred all evil. Eyes that didn't hold an ounce of sorrow, or were haunted by an unbearable guilt, devoid of all hope. Eyes that didn't hold a broken soul behind them. Eyes present-day Gine had, which gazed down at her pint-sized self from the past with a sad smile.

"Yes I am." Gine said softly.

The younger Gine gasped in amazement. There was no denying it now.

They couldn't look away from each other, as if it was like looking into a mirror.

Young Gine thought of the questions she wanted to ask, unsure what to say first.

Present Gine looked at her past self, lost in thought. There was so much she wanted to tell her...

"Why are you really here?" Young Gine asked, settling on a question.

Present Gine wasn't sure how to respond. How was she? Like with Naga?

Does she tell about Kami throwing her into this place? That it was part of some kind of training? And tell her of Kakarot? And Raditz and Bardock? Not to mention that her past self was as much of a projection as everything else here. It all felt so weird.

But... she felt compelled to say something. With Naga, she didn't have to, for he was a pure tormentor that deserved no answers even if he was real or imaginary.

With her own childhood projection?... She deserved the truth.

"I wanted to stop Naga. From forcing you to kill these two." Gine said, glancing at the aforementioned Celnussians.

Young Gine looked at her older self for a few seconds, then between her and the alien mother and child.

"Did you...I mean, did I..." She tried to ask, but couldn't finish.

An uncomfortable silence followed. They both knew the intended question, and the answer.

Young Gine looked to the ground with tears swelling in her eyes.

"It's all my fault." She whimpered.

"What?" Present Gine was startled by that. "What do you mean by that?"

Young Gine couldn't hold back anymore and started crying.

"I'm... too weak. It's all my fault that I wasn't born strong enough to not be forced to do such a horrible thing! It's all my fault!"

"But that's not true, Gine." Present Gine said to her younger counterpart, feeling odd about addressing herself by her own name as if in the third person.

Young Gine sniffled and looked up at her older self. "Yeah it is... I'm the weakest Saiyan that was ever born. I'm pathetic! I just know it's wrong to kill, but I'm not strong enough to fight back otherwise! And I can't even kill when I have to in a fight! I'm worthless! WORTHLESS!"

The little Saiyan girl collapsed, her crying now full on sobbing. "And I... I almost killed innocent people! I'm a monster!" She wailed inconsolably. The image of the Celnussian's laying helpless before her about to be vaporized by her own hand still vivid in her mind, and couldn't think of what would've happened if she fired...

Gine looked at her younger self sympathetically. She had felt this very way before, and she still did.

But she felt the need to say something. And that something was what she long within her wished she heard from someone...

Present Gine kneeled by her younger counterpart's side and laid a comforting hand on her tiny back.

"No, Gine. Listen to me... It is _not_ your fault, it never was. You don't need to be forgiven for things that were out of your control." Present Gine said, not sure where the words she was saying were coming from. It didn't sound true to her own ears given how she herself felt about being strong enough to make a difference.

But, it somehow felt right to say it.

"You were just a child, being forced to kill, against your own will, under the thumb of a monster." She continued calmingly. "And _you_ are not a monster. Naga is, as well as those thugs that call themselves brothers."

The words were meant for her younger part, but she felt herself tearing up as well. As if they were meant for both of them...

Young Gine looked up at her with tear-streaked eyes. "R-Really?"

The elder Gine wiped away her tears, and placed both hands on her small shoulders.

"Yes." Gine smiled sincerely. "You are innocent. You are a good person."

Young Gine's crying soothed to a stop as she absorbed her words.

"And you know something else?" Gine asked, a small smile appearing on her face. These were words she wanted to hear for a long time.

"You ARE strong, Gine."

Young Gine's eyes widened in shock, pointing to herself in incredulity. "I am?"

"Yes. You-" Gine stopped.

Her eyes widened in icy cold horror, when she felt three energy signatures rapidly approaching from behind her.

* * *

 **A/N: Slight goof in making this spirit quest too long for one or even two chapters. So the third one is the final segment of this arc for sure! The conclusion to a true journey of self discovery! Should have it up by Memorial Day weekend.**

 **See you then!**


	22. CHAPTER 21: ONE'S TRUE STRENGTH

**Hello again! Thank you all so much for each of your reviews, follows, and favorites :) I'm really glad you all like the story so far, and I will keep at it to post new chapters as often as I can for you!**

 **And now it's time for the final segment of Gine's spirit quest! This chapter is a long one, but it has some very important character moments so fair warning.**

 ** **Based on MasakoX's What If series _"What if Gine went with Goku to Earth?"_ , but a retcon with some changes of my own on how I think the story would have went down had Goku's mother escaped planet Vegeta with him.****

 ** **DISCLAIMER: The following is a fan-based work of fiction. Dragonball Minus, Dragonball, Dragonball Z, Dragonball Super, and Dragonball GT are all owned by FUNimation, Toei Animation, and Akira Toriyama.****

 ** **Please support the official release!****

 ** **Also, read and review!****

* * *

CHAPTER 21: ONE'S TRUE STRENGTH

Gine jumped to her feet and sprinted to the corner. She looked towards the south where she came, and her face paled.

Three dots flying over the skyrise. They were moving fast, and right for her position.

"Run!" She yelled back urgently, startling her younger self and the Celnussians.

They remained frozen in place, terrified. Seeing this, Gine sprinted back to them, scooping them up in her hands and continuing down the alleyway.

She didn't know if the Saiyans were hunting with a scouter she failed to destroy, or if they were just combing the city street by street. But she couldn't risk flying or using super speed without having them detect her ki, so she kept her energy low.

Gine made a hard turn, then another, and reached an open intersection. She looked down each alley desperately for anything they could conceal under. She tried to stave off the onset of panic when the three energy signatures grew closer, feeling only moments away. She randomly picked left and ran.

The Saiyans didn't head directly towards her as she feared, and it felt like they were flying parallel to the direction of her running...

Suddenly, the three energy signatures bolted straight towards her. The building to her left shuddered, then the wall in front of Gine exploded. She tried to skid to a stop, but was forced back by the shock of the blast.

Gine ungraciously fell on her back, momentarily stunned and dropping her younger self and the Celnussians hard to the ground. They were pelted by the flying chunks of concrete, and raised their arms to shield themselves.

The rain of debris stopped, and Gine sat up quickly. They were engulfed in grey dust.

Dark shadows that appeared through the cloud grew into the full-sized figures of Naga, Banno, and Onio. The air displaced by the trio plowing through the building blew past them, blowing away the dust and ruffling their hair.

"Nice try, bitch. But you can't get away from us." Naga hissed, with the brothers flanking his sides. They blocked the path ahead, and both Gines and Celnussians stared back up at the Saiyans in shock and terror.

Onio's face had scorch marks from his disintegrated scouter. Banno, however, still had his scouter intact.

"Ya missed!" He snarled, pointing at his still functioning device.

Gine's shoulders slumped in resignation. Her plan had failed.

"You can't save those runts. So do yourself and everyone here a favor and give up already! Or else your deaths will not be as quick and painless as you'd like!" Naga ordered.

Gine cursed to herself under her breath, that she should have kept going. Why did she let herself get distracted?! She could have had that emotional moment with her past self later if they escaped.

 _No use regretting it now._ She thought defeatedly. So Gine stood back up to face Naga and the brothers. She crouched into her defensive stance, putting herself between the Saiyans and the Celnussians with her younger self cowering behind her.

"No. I still won't let you harm them!" She declared defiantly.

"Hmph. Fine, long and painful it is." Naga chuckled sadistically, slamming a fist into his open palm and cracking his knuckles. "Ya know, I'm not sure how you managed to survive this long against us, and I must say that I'm a _little_ impressed."

That statement from her former squad leader made Gine feel unsure whether she should feel proud at herself or revolted.

"But!..." He added in disgust-laced mockery. "...only by a little. You are still weak like the pathetic low-class trash that you are, and you ran like a coward still."

Banno and Onio suddenly phased forward, past Naga and past Gine with a rush of wind. She nearly gaged from Onio's pungent stench flying by her.

Gine whipped her head around to follow their movement, only to see that they had stopped right behind her a few yards. The brother Saiyans stood side by side, their round forms barricading the exit backwards down the alley while Naga stood in front of her a few yards as well, effectively trapping them.

"Good luck with running again this time, filth!" Onio jabbed, cruelly laughing with his brother Banno.

The Celnussian mother whimpered, she clutched her child tighter and huddled closer to Gine as they felt surrounded. Young Gine clutched her older self too.

"Looks like you sorry bunch got nowhere to go." Naga gloated, staring down at the helpless Celnussians and Gine doppelgangers like a hunter staring down cornered prey.

Gine tried to think of a way out, but was drawing a blank. Flying up was not an option, and neither was blasting into the ground below if these three were willing to charge through walls. She couldn't just attack them either. Any hit she lands won't do anything, and she'll run out of steam eventually with just trying to defend herself...

"Well, bitch, you made it this far. But it's time for you to pay up for your traitorous actions." His remaining eye narrowed evilly.

"First thing's first: to take care of some business."

Naga lifted his right arm and pointed two fingers at Gine's face, a yellow glow of electricity flared from them.

Gine felt a sickening sense that he was about to shoot out one of her eyes. She instinctively crossed her arms in front of her face to shield herself from his retribution.

"Ha! Don't worry! I'm not aiming for your face." Laughed Naga.

Gine knew she shouldn't believe a word he said, but that odd assurance made her lower her guard enough to peak over her crossed arms at him warily.

Without warning, Naga aimed his two fingertips downward at the Celnussians and fired.

She could only watch as a beam of yellow energy shot straight through both torsos of the mother and child huddled together.

Gine gasped sharply, her eyes widened in horror.

The aliens collapsed to the ground. The mother clutched the gaping hole in it's chest with one hand, looking shocked and gasping for air. Blueish blood poured from the wound and stained the ground. The other arm clasped the child, but it was already dead. The strike incinerated it's tiny organs, which killed it quickly, and painlessly.

The Celnussian mother let out a weak cry that got fainter as it's life force drained away. It struggled to look up at Gine, who was paralyzed in place staring down at the mother.

As the last bit of living energy faded from the creature's eyes, it faintly curled it's lips into a smile of gratitude towards her. All was lost, but this tailed woman had risked herself to save them and it's offspring. And for that, it used it's last act to show thanks.

It's body fell still, and the last Celnussian in existence was dead.

"God they make terrible sounds when they die. Make's my ears hurt." Banno joked irritably. Onio chuckled at that.

Young Gine wailed in horror, falling to her knees and weeping by the bodies of the mother and child.

Naga looked back up at Gine, smirking.

"There. Now our job on this mudball planet is finally done, and your little effort to save these pieces of trash was all for nothin'."

Gine looked down at the fallen forms of the mother and child with her mouth agape and unable to breathe. Her lower lip trembled. Whether this was a projection or not, it was far too much for her to handle.

She had always known that Naga was evil with the pleasure he took in slaughtering. But this... this was beyond that. He murdered the poor defenseless creatures she wanted so desperately to save just to spite her.

And she couldn't do anything to stop it.

She had failed them, even with her newfound resolution, Gine felt just as powerless. Now she herself was going to be slowly and painful killed alongside her past self. To be beaten and gods-knew what else this projection of Naga would do. And her past self will never get to live on, to grow as she did, to have met the love of her life, or to have her sons...

Something red hot began to stir within her.

Gine gritted her teeth like a vise, feeling a familiar power soaring through her veins. She clenched her fists hard, the inside of her palms already raw and cut from her clenching them before. But she didn't care. She was too lost in the rage building inside her.

"I told you: long an painful I'd make this!" Naga chided condescendingly.

Gine didn't hear him, as the sound of her own blood pumping in her ears drowned him out.

How could she be so foolish?! Why did she have to charge at him so blindly in the first place?! She had cost her past incarnation AND her current self their lives, and the Celnussians still died. She couldn't change a damn thing! And she'll never see Kakarot again! Damn her weak emotions! Damn herself for being such a pathetic failure! Damn Naga! DAMN IT ALL!

"Next, I take out this little runt here." Naga pointed at the inconsolable Young Gine on her knees still, who looked back at him with tear-streaked eyes. She looked as if she didn't care if she died alongside the poor Celnussians, and part of her wished she could.

"And _then_ I'll take your eye before I kill you. Gotta make sure you watch, right?!" Naga joked back at Gine, oblivious to her enraged state.

Her whole body shook violently, seething through her nose and clenched teeth.

From behind her, Banno's scouter beeped rapidly. His face lit up in alarm.

"What the?! Her power level just jumped to-"

"YOU BASTAAAAAAAAAAAAAARD!"

Gine let out a feral scream that echoed throughout the alleyway. A white aura suddenly flared up around her that startled her younger self and Naga.

Before anyone could even blink, she rocketed straight at Naga and drove her fist into Naga's abdomen. The force of the punch was so powerful that his armor splintered around her balled-up hand as she drove it into him, yanking him off his feet and flying at supersonic speed with him folded over her arm lodged in his stomach. His good eye bulged in shock and his scream of pain a mere wheezing from all the air forced out of his lungs.

Banno and Onio were thrown back from the sonic boom released by Gine blasting off, while her younger self was blown aside from her energy wake.

Gine with her fist plowed into Naga's gut, crashed him straight through a ruined building at the end of the alley, blasting through it's metal and stone interior, and exploding out the other side in a single moment. Then drove him through the building behind that, and then another... Her vision blurred with rage.

She then drew her fist out from him, leaving him flying backwards from his own momentum. Gine shot upwards and arched over to appear behind Naga as he flew at her. Pulling her leg back, she kicked Naga hard right between the shoulder blades as he reached her. Gine heard both his arms snap backwards with two loud "pops", dislocating them from their sockets with his spine hitting her foot. Naga flew helpless off a different way, shrieking in agony.

Gine then phased in front of him, her fists balled together and held high. She brought her fists down fast and spiked the top of Naga's head so hard that it nearly snapped his neck and cracked his skull.

He plummeted into the ground below, the impact of his body blasted away chunks of street and sent out a shockwave that caused several surrounding buildings to collapse.

"BOSS!" Gine heard Banno and Onio crying out in dismay to their leader amidst the cascade of crumbling structures. She then looked down below at the cloud of ash and dust thrown up from the destroyed block that she pummeled Naga into.

The white aura that surrounded her dissipated, and her body suddenly stiffened.

"Ack." Gine groaned painfully, all of her muscles and bones aching simultaneously. She also felt dizzy again, and a little faint.

She didn't know what it was, but it felt like she had been sapped of energy. It took an effort for her to just keep her eyes open.

Gine slowly floated to the ground, trying not to lose consciousness and fall uncontrollably. She touched down in the rubble and fell to her knees, her right hand was red with Naga's blood.

 _What the hell happened to me?_ Gine thought worriedly, trying to catch her breath and stay awake. It also occurred to her that she had just attacked Naga. But... how did she?

Through the fog of her consciousness she remembered the feeling of seeing red, that he was taunting her for murdering the Celnussians. And then... it felt like she blacked out for a few seconds.

Did she go berserk? Like when she first charged him?

Gine unsteadily got back to her feet and walked to the edge of the crater that a dazed Naga was laying in. He looked as if he had been in the worst fight of his life.

He was on his back with both his arms splayed out limply, unable to move them. His armor was fragmented, a large segment of padding covering his abdomen gone and now had a fist-sized bloody hole in his stomach that did not go all the way through him. A red indent on Naga's head formed from where she spiked him.

"O-Ow..." Naga groaned hoarsely, his good eye wide in utter disbelief and teary in pain. He rolled over to his side, coughing up blood and breathing raggedly. As he coughed he winched from an extremely painful blow-induced headache. He tried to move one arm, crying as he did so. He nearly passed out when he managed to flop one over himself and use it to clutch his bleeding midsection.

Gine looked down at Naga astonished. _I did that?!_ She wondered to herself.

Hitting him that first time in his scouter seemed like a lucky shot to her. But this was something else entirely. Gine had somehow managed to beat him senseless into the ground in the span of a few seconds. There was no way she could have ever dreamed of taking on someone as strong as Naga like that, or fight as viciously as to leave him in such bad shape.

But she could barely remember any of it. Except for the soul-consuming, red hot rage that filled her from it and left her out of breath. Then another thought came to her, something about hidden strength that Kami kept telling her about...

Banno and Onio leapt over a fallen slab off to the side of the crater. Gine saw them both, breaking her train of thought.

"Boss!" Banno called out. Gine, despite her weakened state, got back into defensive stance. Seeing them also made her remember in a panic, where was her younger self? Wasn't she there with them a moment ago?

Naga crawled up the inside wall of the crater, moaning in pain as he tried to pull himself up with his dislocated arms. He resorted to digging his feet into the dirt to push himself up the slope, leaving a trail of blood from his open stomach wound. When he reached the lip of the crater rim, he laid his good eye on her standing nearby. He suddenly looked very distressed.

"H-How?! How did you do that?!" He asked in horror, coughing and hiding his head low in the cover of the crater rim.

The kind heart of Gine felt a twinge of guilt for seeing Naga so pathetic and hurt like this. The knowledge that she did this to him made the guilt that much more strong. She almost felt sorry for him... _almost_.

The image of the his wicked grin when he shot the defenseless alien mother and her child went through her mind. The feeling of guilt immediately vanished, and was replaced with pure hate. Naga deserved more than to be reduced to a bloody pulp. Naga, who had broken her spirit as a child and murdered countless innocent people before her very eyes, deserved to die.

And in some dark corner within Gine, she also felt satisfied. The sight of her old squad leader cowering before her, even though he was supposed to be far stronger than her, was so ironic.

"Boss?!" Banno called out again.

"WHAT IS IT?!" Naga snarled over his shoulder impatiently.

"Are you alright?!" They asked.

"NO I'M NOT ALRIGHT! WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!" Naga practically screeched at his subordinates, despite his broken jaw.

He then nodded at Gine in place of pointing a finger. "SHE SHOULD BE WEAKER THAN ME! WHAT HAPPENED?!"

Gine looked towards Banno's direction curiously. As much as she was secretly enjoying Naga being so frightened of her now, she also wanted to know what happened as well.

"Uh, well, I-I was about to say before she..." Banno stammered nervously when he saw Gine looking at him.

"Well, her power level suddenly jumped to over three thousand!"

Both Gine and Naga felt their jaws drop.

"WHAT? THREE THOUSAND?!" Naga bellowed.

Banno nodded in stunned silence, Onio just stared at Gine in shock from where he stood.

"THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT!"

"But that's what my scouter read, sir!" Banno answered back urgently.

Naga shook his head. As much as it hurt to do that action from the possible whiplash he had, he refused to acknowledge the scouter's readings.

Gine couldn't believe it either.

 _Three thousand?!_ She repeated to herself. That was nearly a third as strong as Bardock was when she last saw him. Never had Gine imagined of reaching something like that in her life.

Had she gotten stronger afterall somehow? But what about the six-fifty reading they got from her earlier?

Was it... she dared to think of what her train of thought from before was leading too. Before Banno and Onio distracted her.

Was it the hidden power Kami told her about? Was she wrong about her strenght all this time? Was she far stronger than she realized? So many questions flooded her mind, so many implications...

But she didn't feel that strong right now, which confused Gine. Was it temporary? Like when she first charged Naga?

Speaking of whom, the Saiyan squad leader looked back at Gine, growling furiously.

"Scan her again!" Naga ordered Banno.

The youngest of the brother Saiyans dutifully activated his scouter, pointing it at Gine. When it chimed it's numbers, Banno's face lit up again in bewilderment.

"W-what's her power level now?!" Onio asked reluctantly, afraid of the answer.

"Uh...six-fifty again!" He answered back with confusion.

"Wait, WHAT?!" Naga asked, just as lost as Gine. "HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

Banno shrugged. "I dunno, sir!"

Gine looked at Banno as dumbstruck as everyone else. Whatever power was temporarily unleashed from within her, she now knew that she HAD hidden power nonetheless. That first attack to Naga's eye was not a fluke afterall.

But it was still only temporary, and now she was back to her normal strength again. Where did all that power go? How did she bring it out?

Naga stumbled trying to stand up, but got back onto his feet. He held the limp arm with his semi-useable one and covered his wounded belly with his elbow. He glared at Gine with his good eye, and she realized how vulnerable she was at that moment. Even wounded, he was still stronger than her.

"I'm not takin' any more chances with you!" Naga hissed at her. He twisted around to bark over his shoulder.

"Banno! Onio! Help me out, you idiots!" He ordered the brothers.

Gine now felt alarmed.

She never thought these three Saiyans would ever team up against anything. Their fierce independency and savage tactics were not meant for teamwork, and she remembered how poorly, if ever, they got along without killing each other.

But could they work together? Normally, any Saiyan would rather die charging alone than ask for help. But if the situation was desperate enough...

"What?!" They both yelled in worry. Onio started to protest, "But Naga, what if... I mean, we're only one thou-"

"I know, I know." Naga interrupted agitatedly. "But she can't stop all three of us!"

Banno and Onio stared at each other for a few moments longer than any intelligent being with a brain should.

"Oh, right!" They finally concluded.

 _Uh oh._ Gine thought.

Any other day, Gine would have felt some pride for having her former superiors feel threatened enough by her to team up. But now, she wasn't appreciating that idea. All three of them were too eager to kill her.

Without wasting time, Gine placed some of her ki into her legs and jumped backwards as hard as she could. She had to get away from them.

"Attack now you idiots! We have her on the run!" Naga shouted.

Banno and Onio leapt into the air after her, Naga following behind. Meanwhile, hiding in the shadows of the rubble, forgotten by either of the Saiyans from her older counterpart's rampage, Young Gine looked out to where everyone took off...

Gine arched over her flight path and flew high over the city away from the trio chasing her. Gine didn't look back, but she could feel they were gaining on her quick. She tried not to lose her grip on her composure, she had to find her younger self and get out of here. Gine tried to focus on finding the girl's ki...

Suddenly, Banno and Onio phased in front of her, blocking her path in midair.

"Not so fast, bitch!" Onio yelled, pulling back a punch simultaneously with his brother to meet with Gine's face. She tried to stop her collision with them, but realized that Naga was right behind her and ready to blast her with a ki attack.

A split-second idea came to her and went with it. As Banno and Onio threw their combined punches at her, she let herself fall. She missed their attack that flew over her head, and the Saiyan brothers realized their mistake too late when their fists met the face of Naga instead with a loud smash of flesh and cartilage.

Gine dropped from under the feet of the brothers and came up behind them. Naga flew backwards, howling in pain and shouting expletives. Banno and Onio's faces were that of deer caught in headlights.

"WHY'D YOU DO THAT YOU FUCKING IDIOTS?!" He screamed at the brothers, holding his now bleeding nose and broken cheekbone.

The brothers sputtered clumsily, thinking of an explanation until they remembered about Gine. They spun around just in time to see her take off again.

"Hey! She's getting away!" Banno cried out, ready to blast off after her.

Before he or his brother Onio could do that, Naga appeared between both of them. With the fist of his good arm, Naga drove it first into the side of Banno's face, then swung out to hit Onio's face with the back end of his closed hand.

"That's for being morons! NOW GET HER!" Naga spat at them, before rocketing off after Gine. The brothers each rubbed their bruised faces, glaring after Naga with as much murderous intent as they did for Gine. They would deal with that later, so they powered up and flew after her as well.

Gine tried to refocus on finding Young Gine again. As she flew, she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the three Saiyans gaining on her. She reached out across the ruined megacity with her mind...she should be the only living thing left down...

 _There!_ Gine realized. Right back where they came from. She twisted around, making a long arcing turn back towards Young Gine's position...

As if by instinct, Gine suddenly stopped just as Onio dived past right in front her. Had she kept flying, he would have skewered both of his extended fists right through her.

Gine's heart thundered in her ears. She tried to regain her wits from that scare, having nearly dodged certain death. But to her horror, she saw that Naga and Banno were already right on top of her. Stopping had costed her too much time.

Naga snickered manically down at her, "No escape for you now!"

Not wasting any time, the two larger Saiyans pounced by thrusting their punches at her.

Gine quickly phased out of sight, making Naga and Banno collide with each other, crying out in pain. She appeared right behind them as they rubbed their craniums and cursed at each other.

Just then, Onio came rocketing back up from below and straight at Gine. She saw this and moved out of the way just in time again.

He stopped and spun towards her just as the other two stopped bickering. Now all three Saiyans glared her angrily, like a pack of starving wolves eying a lone rabbit.

Gine felt trapped, and briefly wondered if her life was supposed to flash before her eyes if this was how she was to end.

Before she could ponder further, Naga shouted out, "KILL HER!"

They all charged her at once, meeting her in midair. The three Saiyans surrounded her, throwing punches and kicks at her in the center with no exit route from the circle.

But they couldn't hit her. Naga went for front kick that Gine twisted her body around to just barely miss, then bent forward to dodge a punch from behind by Banno, and using Naga's leg to twirl herself over and up to avoid another kick from Onio.

Although she was outnumbered, and _extremely_ outclassed, Gine was amazed that she still moved around each strike they threw at her.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" Naga and the brothers exclaimed repeatedly, growing more enraged when their prey refused to get hit. They tried to increase the speed of their attacks, the punches thrown got a little closer to their target, but they still missed as she simply moved quicker.

Gine reacted to every move at break-neck speed to stay ahead of them. With three opponents on her, she was barely keeping up, while inwardly she was frantically looking at their attacks for a way out. But she still gracefully maneuvered like in a delicate dancer around the flying fists and boots meant to break her thin body. All it would take was one blow from any of them, but blunt force was all they had going for them.

The fat, lumbering Saiyans of Banno and Onio fought even more sluggishly than Naga did in her first battle with him. Naga himself was at a disadvantage now with one arm out of action, and his other one was barely functioning for rudimentary side swings, so he could only rely on kicks for sure strikes.

And there was no coordination, no plan from either of them. Just blindly attacking her. Gine could see that these three definitely did not work well as a team.

Cumulatively they should outmatch her, but...

 _"You think that with enough of it you can destroy any obstacle or pound any foe into submission, but all of your strength will mean nothing if you cannot hit your opponent. On top of that, by getting angrier when you don't get your way, you tend to get quite sloppy."_

Despite not having time to blink, Mr. Popo's words rang through Gine's head during the fight, now feeling truer than ever before.

But Gine still had to get out of this deadlock, she knew it was only a matter of time before she tired out.

Gine threw her head back to dodge an elbow from Banno meant for her head, only to accidentally hit Onio's skull instead. The stunning of one of her opponents gave her a brief respite, but still no opening to escape. Though in the one/tenth second breather-room moment she had, two single thoughts went through Gine's brain at the superspeed of Saiyan synapses...

Her non-redundant movements... the pre-existing animosity between the Saiyans...

Gine realized she was basically in control of the fight, and could get out if she could turn them against each other for just a moment.

Switching tactics, Gine used the opportunity to kick a surprised and embarrassed Banno in the face while she was still focused on dodging Naga. The strike did nothing but to anger Banno further, making him throw another punch at her. But Gine counted on this, and swiped his arm away from her by directing it toward Naga's neck, striking his Adam's apple. He recoiled from blow to his windpipe, chocking. But still not enough for Gine to squeeze through.

She would've laughed at the hilarious sight of them turning against each other, but now was NOT the time.

"WATCH IT!" The Saiyan squad leader croaked out, his eyes lit up in fury, making him slam his foot into Banno's gut just as Onio retaliated on his brother with a punch of his own for the earlier friendly-fire.

The double strike sent Banno backwards a few yards. Finally, an opening!

Gine leapt at the chance and flew after the flung back Banno. So overjoyed at having finally found an escape route, that she dropped her guard...

Onio threw a kick at her just as she flew past him, the tip of his boot grazing Gine's right temple. It was not a direct hit, but from someone who was nearly twice as powerful as herself, it was enough to gash the flesh of her forehead and snap her head back.

Blinding light seemed to flash inside Gine's head from an explosion of pain, leaving her stunned.

She cried out, reflexively clutching her concussed head as she lost forward momentum and fell freely. Her neck flared up in a sharp ache, as if it sprung back after being stretched to it's limits.

Gine felt something wet leaking between her fingers pressed against her gashed temple. Even with her eyes shut tight in pain, they still stung as the blood dripped down her face.

But then her eyes snapped open as she felt Banno suddenly phase right beside her.

He swung a leg at her side. Dazed and bleeding, Gine raised her left arm to block it without thinking...

A loud snap came from her forearm breaking diagonally under the force of his kick. His foot drove her bent forearm into her upper arm, another snap came from that. And finally, driving the rest of Gine's mangled arm into her own ribcage.

All of the air in her lungs was forced out in a scream of agony so powerful that she feared her vocal chords would tear.

Before she knew it, Gine felt herself fold over sideways around Banno's kick, and was sent flying away at blinding speed.

As fast as the blow of extreme pain came, it went. Everything went quiet, all she could hear was her own shallow breathing...

She didn't feel anything anymore, not even the sensation of freefall. Gine was left in a haze of numbness, her eyes blank and unblinking as the sprawl of the megacity came up to greet her...

Her body crashed into the glass exterior of a ruined building, through several layers of walls, and out the other side like a missile. But she did not feel any of it...

Then she hit the ground hard. The world tumbled around in her vision as her limp body bounced out of the crater she made from the initial impact, throwing a trail of debris, before finally skidding to a stop on her back.

Gine lay there, battered and stunned. Her nervous system was so overwhelmed from shock and pain that it did not register in her brain. She stared up into the purple sky of Xai Celnussia VI, the planet's rings and the blue sun high overhead. It looked so beautiful...

Gine's ears started ringing. It slowly grew louder alongside the sound of her own heartbeat, and other noises started coming back to her. The crackle of raging fires burning throughout the city, and the rubble of collapsing buildings.

Then the pain returned... the entire left side of her body from her shoulder to her leg felt like its was freezing cold and on fire at the same time. There was also a dull ache in her forehead that wouldn't go away, and it grew into an unbearable migraine.

Slowly, all the pain of her injuries intensified and drove the haze away from inside Gine's head.

 _Pain is good..._ Some part of her mind told her. _It means you're still alive..._

Her vision came back into focus, half obscured in opaque red. The ache in her head was now skull-splitting. She winched from it, and from the sting of blood dripping down her head gash into her eye. With that, Gine shook her head and returned to full consciousness.

What... what happened? She thought to herself before the image of Onio's boot to her face and Banno's kick into her side flashed in her mind... Oh...

She could barely breathe. It hurt to do so and couldn't keep all the air in, making it almost feel like she was suffocating.

Her eyes drifted down the length of her body to take stock. She was cut from glass shards and patches of her skin scraped raw from the crash landing into the gravel. Her dress gi was shredded too.

Testing her extremities, Gine flexed all of her digits. Her right hand was still there and moving fine, so she brought it to her face. She wiped away the blood and tears from her eye, then pressed her hand against the deep wound on her right temple.

She then curled both legs and her tail back to her. Good. They still worked too. But her left arm...

Gine grunted, rolling her head over to look. It was still all there, but it was useless now. The upper humerus was broken cleanly, but fragments of her radius and ulna protruded from her sleeve, making her forearm appear bent as if she had two elbows.

Nothing new. She had these injuries before, but it was still not pleasant to see.

Gine drew in a deep breath, but sharply gasped involuntarily. Immediately she knew some ribs were broken. It felt like she was being stabbed in her left side.

She tried to sit up, struggling to prop herself with one good arm. Once she was in a comfortable position, Gine let go of her bleeding head for a moment to inspect her side with her free hand. Her destroyed left arm hung limply to the side, her fingers unresponsive to her brain's command.

The side of her gi was soaked too in oozing blood, and something jagged poked underneath the fabric.

Her fingertips brushed the ridges of the cracked rib, then her pupils shrank to dots and Gine shut her eyes tight. Waves of nausea swept through her.

She rocked herself back and forward, trying to ride out the pain and queasiness. Protruding ribs wasn't an injury she would wish on anyone, except Naga maybe.

But then her eyes shot open again. Wait. Where _was_ Naga?

"Ah-ha!" A distant, rough voice seemed to answer her.

It was followed by the sound of three large figures charging through the air at high velocity, and suddenly stopping right in front of her. A rush of air blew dust her way.

"We finally got ya, you stupid bitch!" Naga snarled at her in contempt.

Gine shrank back in fear as the three of them looked down at her laying broken and helpless on the ground. But they kept their distance from her. As much as neither Naga or the brothers would ever admit it, how she managed to outfight them along with her fluctuating power had them worried.

Banno pressed the button on his scouter. Just to make sure she was indeed beaten. After a second, it chimed.

"Ha! Her power level is falling off rapidly!" He called out ecstatically.

The three Saiyans let out a breath of relief they didn't realize they were holding. Then their looks turned into satisfied smirks.

"Not so tough anymore now, are ya?!" Naga jibbed. He walked up to her fallen form, standing right next to her broken left arm. Gine glanced up at him staring down at her, looking contemplative. She felt frozen in terror, afraid of what he was about to do her next.

Naga stood there for a moment. He never grew tired of the reactions of weaklings facing their destroyers at the moment of their doom and them feeling so powerless to stop it. It always filled him with so much joy and purpose. This time, however, had been made too bittersweet for him to fully enjoy that look of pure fright on this traitor's face after all the trouble they had in dealing with her.

She took his eye, knocked out some of his teeth, put a hole in his stomach, and nearly ripped both of his damn arms off. If all that wasn't enough, she utterly humiliated him by outwitting him and tossing him around like a rag doll in front of his own subordinates. The blow to his pride at the hands of this filth and having to ask for help like a coward made his blood boil as much as the high treason this pacifistic bitch committed against the Saiyan race and Lord Frieza both.

Above all, he didn't understand how this piece of trash got strong enough to overpower him. By all rights she should never be able to do that, but she did somehow. That idea lead to things and implications that subconsciously frightened him when he thought of them...

But he blocked those fears. Gine had been beaten, which was all that mattered to him. She was now the one cowering at his feet as she should.

Naga clenched his fists, and rammed his boot into the defenseless Gine's side.

The kick to her broken arm and ribs together sent a wave of pain so intense she nearly passed out from the shock, and the force of it sent her flying back a few feet.

"Where'd all that power go, huh?!" Naga mocked. The brothers laughed behind him.

Gine landed on her broken arm, it was too painful to even scream. It made her want to throw up.

"You are nothing but a worthless weakling like you always were. And I shoulda killed you when I found you on that jungle mudball long ago." Naga remarked darkly at her.

"So, I'm about to do just that. And then I'll go find your past self and off her too. Then the Saiyan race will be rid of your trash blood for good."

She was in an incredible amount of agony, but Gine's grimace turned into that of rage when she heard Naga's words.

Naga raised a hand, about to charge up a lethal ki blast. In her overwrought state, she still tried to think of some way out of this.

 _Think, Gine. THINK!_ But nothing came to her. Either the pain was clouding her mind, or there really was no way out except for a miracle.

She turned her head towards Naga with a mix of resignation and hatred.

"Goodbye, scum." He said coldly, a ball of ki forming in his open hand.

So much for a last stand, she thought pessimistically.

Her eyes drifted upwards, past Naga to the burning skyscrapers and up at the blue sun hanging overhead high in the purple sky. She was right, it did look so beautiful...

But then a light went on in Gine's head.

"Wait! Don't kill me just yet!" She called out desperately, raising her good arm up in a stopping motion.

Naga narrowed his eyes, just about to fire.

"Why? Is this you begging for your life?" He retorted in disgust, holding back the blast to end her.

Gine tried to move the fingers of her broken left arm, but remembered the nerve damage. So she manually pried them open with her right hand.

"No...I just... have something to say before you kill me!" Gine said. She had to distract them long enough to get herself ready for what she had to do.

"Oh?" Naga raised an eyebrow suspiciously. "And what's that?"

Spreading her deadened fingers apart, Gine took deep encouraging breaths to brace herself for the next step. It had to be perfect for it to work, and she had to be quick.

She leaned on her left side, crying out hard from the pain on her arm and ribs, but she managed to place her left hand where it needed to be in front of her face.

With that, she spread the fingers of her right hand and held it in front of her face in similar fashion to her left.

The Saiyans looked perplexedly at her. Of all the things they'd seen their fallen opponents do in their last moments, this was surely unexpected. Was she... posing?

Naga felt curious enough to ask. "What the hell are you doing?"

Wherever Tien was, Gine mentally thanked him for demonstrating this technique. She closed her eyes.

Naga asked again, "I said, what the hell are you-"

"SOLAR FLARE!"

Even through her closed eyelids, Gine could see the bright flash of light generated by her ki. The Saiyans cried out in surprise and pain.

When the flashing subsided, Gine opened her eyes again to see the three of them writhing on the ground, clasping their eyes and cursing.

It worked! But she wasn't sure how long they would stay blinded. Now to make a run for it.

Gine pushed herself off the ground and flew off as fast as she could. Soon the three Saiyans disappeared behind her as she fled deeper into the city center.

She reached out with her mind to feel the energy signature of her younger self. She had to find her!

Seconds felt like hours as she zoomed past toppled structures and burning hulks of skyscrapers. She used more ki to go faster, combing the last major street she remembered...

There! Gine stopped midflight to find her younger self wandering the wreckage on the street.

"Hey! Gine!"

Young Gine looked up to see her older counterpart appear out of nowhere, and her eyes lit up in joy.

"You're alive!"

Gine lowered herself to the street, and collapsed to her knees when she touched down. Young Gine ran up to her, immediately shrieking when she saw her bloodied state and damaged arm.

"What happened?!" Young Gine cried as she held out her hands to help steady her older counterpart. Gine herself wrapped her good arm around her waist to press against her rib wound. It stung like a flaming knife when she touched it, but kept it from bleeding further.

"I saw you charge after Naga, then Banno and Onio just left me behind." Young Gine explained. "I thought they might have killed you!"

"They almost did." Gine looked up at her younger self with pained eyes. "I got away... but, not for long."

"Huh?" Her younger self asked in alarm.

"Listen, we need to get off this planet quick! Do you know how far the attack pods are?"

Young Gine nodded. "Yeah, just a few clicks east that way!" She pointed.

"Good." Said Gine. "Then lets grab one before they come after us!"

"Alright!"

Young Gine helped her older self stand up, and took off expecting her to follow. But Gine groaned and fell over when she tried to get off the ground.

Her younger self wheeled around to see the elder Gine clutching herself and coughing. "What's wrong?!" She asked in a panic.

Gine felt like she could barely breathe. It hurt so horribly bad when she did, the flaming knife replaced with a flaming sledgehammer. She coughed again, traces of blood in it.

Punctured lung, she realized.

Young Gine landed by her side again. "Come on, get up!"

Gine grunted, fighting against the pain. "I-I can't!" She said through tears of excruciating pain, her voice had also turned raspy.

"I'm hurt more badly than I thought..." She tried to explain with short breath. "You're gonna have to carry me!"

"Okay!" Young Gine complied and lifted the elder Gine up from under her good arm. Slowly they flew eastward to where the open flatlands were, where the purging crew landed.

"Not too far, Gine! Just hang on!" Her younger self reassured. They were still in the city, but already halfway to the landing site.

Gine's eyes widened in horror.

"They're back already!" She yelled at her younger self, who jumped in shock.

Gine could feel the three energy signatures coming their way. The blindness had worn off at last...

"QUICK! HIDE!"

Young Gine looked around frantically, and saw a dark opening into a pile of rubble to their right. Without waiting, she threw elder Gine into the yawning hole and ducked in after her.

Gine landed unceremoniously on her back. She screamed in pain when she rolled to her side, but was quickly silenced by her younger counterpart's hand pressed to her mouth.

Slowly, Gine's eyes adjusted to the dark interior. They were taking refuge inside the ground floor of a toppled building, with all of it's entrances buried in rubble save for the one they dove through. But as Gine looked around, she noticed a hole in the corner slabs just big enough for her small counterpart to fit through.

The three signatures got closer, and almost seemed to be steering towards their general direction.

"Keep still and lower your ki!" Gine urgently whispered.

Her younger self nodded affrightedly and did as she was told. Gine closed her eyes and suppressed her own ki as well, trying to stay conscious while doing so from her injuries.

The flying energy signatures of Naga, Banno, and Onio suddenly stopped in their tracks a few ways off from their location. They stayed there for a good while.

"FIND HER!" Naga's voice rang out. He sounded absolutely livid.

The three signatures split up, each one flying off on a heading ninety degrees apart from one another.

Gine sighed in momentarily relief. Banno still had the only remaining scouter, but they couldn't track their ki anymore. Now they were resorting to searching the whole city. That worked just fine for her. It was a ruined megacity that spanned hundreds of miles across. There were plenty of places to hide and it would take hours to find them. Maybe she and her younger self could sneak their way to-

The ground shook, startling both Gines. The elder one reached out with her mind to sense the sudden release of ki from Banno and Onio. Firing large ki blasts at random sections of intact buildings.

"They're blowing up the city!" Young Gine whispered worriedly.

Gine's heart sank. It now seemed that Naga would forgo his mission of keeping some of the infrastructure intact just to flush her out anyway. She knew it was a matter of time until they narrowed down her location. She could escape the blasts, but she would be finished off for sure.

"What are we gonna do?" Yong Gine asked her elder counterpart. But Gine just started blankly off into the distance in sorrow.

"Hey!" Young Gine shook her older self, but Gine still didn't pay attention.

They were trapped with no way out, plain and simple. But Gine couldn't bring herself to say it out loud to her younger self, and the realization that she would be unable to save her brought Gine to tears. Worse still, she couldn't even save the Celnussians anyway. She had to watch them die all over again, powerless to stop it.

Now she was going to get Young Gine killed along with herself. All that her efforts would amount to were to die hiding from her tormentors as she always had.

She felt like such a failure.

"HEY!" Young Gine gently slapped her older self across the back of the head. With her concussion, it felt like a grenade going off inside her skull. But it snapped Gine out of her dread and looked at her younger self in the eye.

"We need to get out of here!" Her younger self urged. Gine's expression turned sorrowful, and looked down at the ground.

"There _is_ no way out of here." She said hopelessly.

Young Gine couldn't believe it. "But there has to! We can't just stay here and die!"

Gine shook her downturned head. "They are blasting the whole city apart. And I'm too busted up. If we run, I'll only slow us down. They'll find us and kill us for sure."

Young Gine took in her blunt words in silence, unable to think of anything that could refute the facts. She stared at the ground for a few seconds. The hopelessness of the situation weighed on her too.

"I'm so sorry, Gine." Her older self offered sadly. "I tried..."

Young Gine nodded solemnly. "Yeah, you did." She said in a soft voice. "Like how I tried to save those aliens..." She trailed off, her voice cracking.

Neither past or present Gine spoke for good long moment, knowing full well their inability to save the aliens they were thinking of.

"It's still not your fault." Present Gine said. "You were forced to do something that was beyond your control."

Young Gine nodded, she knew what she was saying. But she still had a hard time believing it.

"If anyone is to blame, it's me." Gine looked away. "I was sent back in time to try and stop it. But I still wasn't strong enough to change anything."

That got Young Gine's attention, and she looked at her older counterpart curiously. "You were sent back in time? By who?"

Gine eyed her past self hesitantly. Whatever she told her past self would not change the timeline of history, yet she felt some implied aversion to keep the future a secret from herself even if this all wasn't real...

 _Screw it_ , she relented. "By a Namekian who was a Guardian of some frontier planet."

With their imminent doom, she saw no further reason to not tell the truth to her own past self.

"He sent me back here against my will..." Gine felt anger rising within her as she said that out loud. "He wanted me to see something or learn whatever kind of lesson he was trying to teach me. I really don't know what it was, as he was really vague. But I knew that this was the place that Naga would have had me kill those poor creatures. I tried to stop it but I failed anyway."

Whether it was the knowledge that they were about to die or the ominous implications of her older self's words, Young Gine decided to ask, "What was my future like? Or, what was _our_ future like?"

Gine looked at her younger self sadly, "After I... I mean, after _you_ would have killed the Celnussians, you would have lived a life of misery."

Young Gine gasped in horror, but present Gine continued.

"You would still have been forced to partake on planetary purging missions for at least another ten years. You would've done your best to not kill, but you would watch all that pain and suffering nonetheless. Dozens of planets and billions of people dead..." Gine stopped for a moment, remembering the sights and sounds of each planet she helped destroy.

"Eventually you would have gotten out of the frontlines to become a cook back home on planet Vegeta. But you would never have been able to escape the bullying and targeted abuse by every other Saiyan for how weak you and I were."

Then a smile crept across Gine's face. "But one day... you would have met Bardock. He wasn't just an average Saiyan warrior looking for a mate, he was truly something special. He didn't believe in having his place set in stone from his power level at birth. He fought hard and bravely to get stronger, to rise above his station and be the best among us..." Gine's heart warmed at the memory of the love of her life.

"He was cold and ruthless like everyone else, but he believed in something better. He would have seen past your weakness and saw something wonderful in you. He would've shown you companionship. And from it, he would have given you two beautiful sons. Raditz and Kakarot."

Her younger self sat there in silence, digesting every word with awe.

Then Gine's expression turned sad again. "But one day, Frieza would turn against the Saiyans. He would destroy our home planet, and-"

"What?! Frieza turned against us?! Why?!" Young Gine exclaimed in shock.

Gine shook her head. "No one knows for sure. Bardock thought he was afraid of us somehow, that we would pose a threat to his rule maybe. But, whatever the case, he destroyed our world. You and your youngest child, Kakarot, would be the only survivors."

She tried not to cry. No matter how many years had passed, the pain of losing everything she knew and cared about on that day never went away.

Young Gine sensed the omission of her future partner Bardock and firstborn Raditz, and knew what that meant. She could almost feel the grief from her older self for them.

After a moment to regain herself, Gine continued. "You would eventually find your way to a distant planet in the northern quadrant of the galaxy, called Earth. And there..."

Gine's smile returned, this time it was warm and heartfelt. "There... a wonderful man named Son Gohan would have taken you in. He would have given you and your son a new life. One where you would never have to live in fear, or be made fun of, or have to conquer ever again. And he would have taught you so many things that you never would have imagined possible..." She reminisced, finding the irony in how she was telling her past self the true power of Gohan teachings even when she herself didn't believe them.

"You would have watched your son grow, protected the people of that world, and you would have known true peace..." Gine's voice trailed off when she finished.

Young Gine looked off to a spot on the far wall in deep contemplation of everything her older self said.

She was amazed how the elder Gine managed to endure the hardships she experienced, from the genocides of countless worlds to a lifetime of abuse. With the added knowledge that she was to be orphaned from the rest of her family and their species by the very person they served, Young Gine wondered how any sentient being could still have a will to go on living after that. It filled her with dread that she was about to experience it all herself had she not been spared from the unforgivable act of executing those prisoners, and she wanted to weep for her older self and everything she suffered through.

But most all, there was such a thing as true peace? There was a planet out there where she could live and never have to be tormented, or be afraid?! And she would be a protector instead of a destroyer?! The idea was so foreign, profound, and sounded too good to even be true. But, she knew her older self wouldn't lie to her about that, for she couldn't lie to herself.

To her, all of that is what she always wanted. Whatever this "Earth" was, the fact that such a wonderful place existed filled her with hope. That despite this cruel universe, her older self had managed to find her true home.

"Your youngest son made it with you to this "Earth"?" Young Gine asked.

Her older self nodded, turning sad that she will never get to see him again.

"What was he like?" She pressed.

Gine looked at her younger self and smiled warmer at her than she had ever did.

"He was the sweetest Saiyan boy who ever lived..." She said with motherly love. "A kind, gentle soul who was so goofy, full of life, and always strived to be the best he could be. Just like his father..."

Young Gine smiled at that, feeling a twinge of happiness that her offspring would be so inspiring.

"He was what made the peace on Earth so worthwhile. To see him grow up completely away from the life we had..." Gine added.

The ground around them shook again, a reminder that Naga and the brothers were still outside bombing the city.

And it was sharp jolt of reality to Gine that now her younger self will never get to experience the true paradise of the cosmos that was Earth. That she was going to die here in this godforsaken place instead. Her next words came to her just as the truth of her actions did.

"And it's my fault that you will never get to experience that peace. Because I couldn't stand to relive the past all over again."

It made Gine's throat clench from unbearable guilt, and tears fell from her eyes. "I'm so sorry... I'm such a coward!"

Gine wept hard in choking sobs. The pain in her broken ribs flared up from her crying, which made her weep even harder and making her more enraged at herself. But she guessed she deserved it. Perhaps this was the lesson Kami had been trying to show her, that she couldn't change the past? And by interfering with it to save the Celnussians, she only doomed herself? How could she be so foolish to not see that?! And how could Kami do something so cruel to her?!

She felt small, comforting hands on her back as Young Gine held her older self while she cried.

"You are not a coward, Gine." Her younger self said soothingly.

"No, I am!" Gine hiccupped out.

"No, you are not!" Her younger self countered again. "You told me that I was forced to do something against my will, and I couldn't stop it... well, I believe you now."

Gine didn't answer, but her crying slowed.

Young Gine added, "I can see now that you yourself had went through so much and couldn't do anything to prevent it either. It all makes sense to me now. And if I couldn't help myself from something beyond my power, well neither could you. For that, there's no need to forgive."

Gine turned her tear-streaked face to her younger self. She felt so ashamed of looking pathetic in front of a child even if that child was herself.

"R-really?" She asked hesitantly.

Her younger self nodded. "I knew what I was feeling when Naga was about to make me kill those poor creatures. You knew that feeling too, and you... had to do it..."

They both regarded each other solemnly at that unspeakable act, and the elder Gine felt herself go cold since she actually did kill them. Then Young Gine looked at her sadly, "No one should ever have to do such a thing. Naga made you do it, and I hold nothing against you for trying to stop it when you saw an opportunity to do so. If anything, I should say thank you for saving me from killing them."

Young Gine then smiled, "And I'm happy that you survived through all of that pain to find "Earth". It sounded so wonderful, and I wish I could have seen it myself..." She sounded so wistful and longing. "...but since you and I are the same person, at least one of us got to find peace and happiness in the end."

Gine looked up at her younger self in awe. She had no idea that she could have been so wise at such a young age, and it felt so weird to be on the receiving end of it. But... it made sense.

The elder Gine's expression softened. "Thank you." She whispered, and hugged her younger self tightly with her one good arm.

The two Gines held each other as the building shook violently, dust falling around them from the ceiling that contained thousands of tons of rubble about to crush the two Saiyans at any moment, turning their hiding spot into their grave. But they paid no mind to it, for this moment of was something that the soul of this one person, past and present, sorely longed for.

After a while, Young Gine spoke first by adding, "And at least I got to see you beat the crap out of Naga."

Gine chuckled at that, breaking the dark atmosphere.

Young Gine let go of their hug and said, "You said that I was strong too. Well I believe that now too after seeing you fight!"

"Seeing me fight?" Gine asked.

"Yeah! I saw how you launched yourself at Naga! You beat the crap out of him!" Her younger self punched air with her fists, imitating Gine's moves during the earlier battle. "Now I believe you that I could have gotten stronger if you somehow managed to!"

The elder Gine smiled. She guessed that if she could have seen herself from the future go toe to toe with Naga, then surely she could train herself to get out of the outcast hole she had been in her whole life.

"How did you do that?" Young Gine asked excitedly.

"Um, well I..." Gine paused, the ground still shaking form the bombardment. "I trained... I learned that strength was not..." She trailed off, unable to believe her own words. Ones which until recently she didn't fully believe in until Mr. Popo demonstrated otherwise to her.

"Was not what?" Her young self asked for her to finish, which she did.

"That strength was not everything. I learned to fight effectively, from Gohan... and another great teacher named Popo. They taught me that... you could overcome anything if you are brave and quick enough."

The young girl's eyes widened in disbelief. "Getting stronger doesn't mean everything?!"

Gine shrugged. "I wish that were true. As much as I could outwit Naga... I still wasn't strong enough to beat him entirely." Gine scoffed to herself. "Guess that I still lacked the power to actually beat them when I needed to."

"But that's not true! You do have the power!" Young Gine tried to emphasize. "I saw how angry you were when you pummeled him into the ground!"

Gine shook her head. "Not exactly. I just got so angry when..." She tried to continue, then paused from the pain of the memories. And a realization hit her.

"When Naga was about to force you to execute the Celnussians…. and when he murdered them anyway..." Her voice faint.

She remembered now... in those moments she could only remember images of pounding on Naga through the blinding rage. Moments that also happened during her life on planet Vegeta. Times when she was publicly beaten and humilated for being what she was. When she couldn't take it anymore, something within her gave her a small boast to keep fighting, to give her strength to make her tormentors hurt. But the power never fully came out, and the exact reason why eluded her in those moments. Until now.

"When I got angry enough." She thought out loud.

Young Gine asked, "Angry enough?"

Gine remembered more. The raw power soaring through her veins when she felt herself snap from overwhelming rage, which was brought on when she felt so powerless to stop those atrocious acts of Naga. And when she snapped, nothing mattered to her but stomping his brains out or to rip him into bloody shreds. She didn't feel pain or the passage of time in that state, she only felt unstoppable.

But it only lasted a few moments, and it was _just_ blind rage. She remembered how she almost attacked Kakarot for getting in her way. If only she could focus her rage...

Kami's words suddenly came to her.

 _"You must be like a stone. Calm and still, so that rain and wind cannot move you." Kami's soft voice said..._

 _"Think of the emotions and thoughts that gave you that power, then try to isolate it from the rest of your mind so you can maintain conscious control." Kami's voice sounded like a whisper in a dream. It echoed and faded, and sounded as if coming from everywhere._

 _"It will allow you to clear your mind of all anxiety, and thus become more attuned to the world around you. Easier to solve problems at hand than let your mind get clouded with doubt that enemies could take advantage of."_

 _"Feel the one thing that brings you righteous anger... something that burns like a fire inside your heart... Don't think. Feel..."_

Of course! It all made sense to her now...

Popo's teachings of using ki to sense her opponents in a fight, and Kami's teaching's of harnessing her anger... It all worked on the same principle of clearing her head of all of her physical, mental, and emotional anchors. The screaming pain of her frail body and the heavy chains of her doubts about herself did not matter. She just need to let them all go, and then...

Gine said with regret in her voice, "If I could make myself angry over those things... that would have given me the strength to fight?"

Young Gine looked at her with hope that her older self may have remembered something important and useful now. But Gine just sat there despairingly.

If she had known that, would that have made a difference in the outcome of her battle with Naga? Would that have allowed her to defeat him and let her past self escape this hell hole?

The shaking suddenly ceased, snapping the both of them back to reality and reminding them that they were still in hiding. Minutes passed, nothing else happened.

"They stopped blasting the city!" Young Gine whispered. This should have been good, but they both felt worried. Naga and the brothers were determined to find them. Why did they stop? Not even half an hour had passed, and even with that amount of time they could have carpet bombed a good portion of the city. Did they give up?

Gine reached out with her senses, their immediate area was empty so she felt further out...

Then, she felt the energy signatures of Naga, Banno, and Onio converging together high in the sky over the city. Gine and her younger self instinctively froze in place to keep quiet, and suppressed their ki.

The three Saiyans came together and stopped not far from where they split up earlier, but much higher up.

"GINE, YOU BITCH! IF YOU DON'T SHOW YOURSELF IN THE NEXT SIXTY SECONDS, WE'RE GONNA FLATTEN THIS WHOLE CITY!" Naga's voice boomed from above.

"Oh no..." Young Gine whispered in terror.

Present Gine felt a cold chill run down her spine. They had given up and were set to incinerate everything. Their mission objectives be damned.

Was this it? Was this how she was going to end?

Gine looked down at her younger self in the eye. Eyes that stared back up at her with fear, but with an acceptance that the end was near.

Something stirred with Gine as she looked in the seven year old's eyes too. She saw there was a longing in Young Gine for everything her older self from the future shared about the life of peace she had managed to find. A life that she would never get to live...

As hopeless as their chances of survival were, the thought of she and her past self just giving up to Naga and dying didn't sit right with Gine. Not after everything she shared.

Her younger self deserved a chance to live, to have a better life. Not to die like this.

She remembered something and looked towards the corner of the dark room they were hiding in. After looking for a few seconds, trying to remember what it was she saw earlier, Gine spotted the corner slabs of the room. The hole in the rubble looked just big enough for her younger self to slip through.

With their talk about her anger from earlier, a plan began to form in Gine's mind. And with that, a sense of calm washed over her. She knew what she had to do...

"You see that hole over there?" Gine pointed with her good arm. Her younger self followed it and saw the opening. She immediately turned hopeful.

"I want you to crawl through there, and make your way to the attack pods as quickly but as quietly as you can. Don't let them see you." Gine ordered, she had to act fast.

Young Gine nodded, but then looked confused. "But, what about Naga? He said he's going to destroy the entire city!"

"Not if I distract him." Gine said resolutely.

With strength she did not know where it came from, Gine pressed her good hand and knees against the ground and stood up. She felt wobbly and light headed from blood loss, but stood tall and determined.

At first, her younger self didn't understand, then looked at her in realization. "Wait, you're gonna fight them?!"

Gine nodded, and used her sleeve to wipe away the blood from her eye. "Yes."

"But... you'll die! You only have one arm!" Young Gine protested.

Gine nodded again, solemnly. "I know."

Her younger self looked up at her stunned and horrified, but Gine remained firm.

"There's no way I can escape. I'm hurt too badly and I may not get any treatment in time. But you may still have a chance."

Young Gine stared up at her future self with tears forming in her eyes.

"I understand that you don't want me to die, but the truth is that if we both run or if we fight them together, they'll kill us for sure. But if I can keep them busy long enough, you can escape this planet. " Gine explained.

"No. Please! Don't..." Her younger self tried to protest, but Gine knelt in front of her and placed her good hand on her shoulder.

"You deserve a better life than mine, Gine. I want you to leave this place, leave this life under Frieza's rule behind, and go to planet Earth. There, you will have a chance to find the peace I wished I always had." She said gently to Young Gine. This still was an act that would change nothing in history, but Gine felt compelled to say it to herself. It was something she long wondered in her heart what would have been had she known of Earth and a life without killing. So in these last moments of hers, she decided to entertain that idea. With how real this projection was or how long it lasted, perhaps this quasi-Gine could go on to live peacefully. And who knew the life she could live...

Gine brought herself back into focus. She had only thirty seconds now. "Go now. I will distract them long enough for you to make it to a pod. Don't come back for me, okay? _I_ alone need to face Naga, and I will NOT just give up and let them kill you."

Young Gine tried to think of something to say, but couldn't. She didn't want her older self to throw away her life to save her save her past self, but they both knew the situation and how little time was left. If any of them were to live, this was the only way.

So she respected her older self's decision, and nodded. "Okay."

She looked up at her older self and smiled, "Thank you, Gine."

Her older self smiled warmly in return. "Thank _you_ , Gine. Now go, quick!"

Young Gine sprinted for the opening, her older self looked on and thought of something else.

"Wait! One more thing!" She called out.

Young Gine stopped in her tracks and looked back at her older self.

"Promise me one more thing." Gine asked. She then said with conviction what she had now just come to realize was true for her all along.

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are weak. You are strong, and you CAN get stronger if you train hard and never, ever give up. Will you do that for me?"

She now learned so late in life that she indeed had the power to get stronger like every other Saiyan, that everything said about her was wrong. Gine wished she didn't have to live to be almost forty, have a conversation with a talking cat, and face down her own death here to figure that out. But here, she could do that for her younger self. She could give her the hope that she never had.

Young Gine took in her words, and needed only a second to smile back at her with determination. "I promise."

The elder Gine nodded in thanks, and the two regarded each other for the final time.

Young Gine turned around and dashed into the opening, her tail was the last thing to disappear into the dark aperture.

"FINE THEN! FIVE MORE SECONDS AND YOU CAN BURN WITH THE REST OF THIS PLACE!" Naga screamed outside, breaking Gine out of seeing off her past self.

High up above, she could sense Naga charging up a massive ki blast with enough energy to vaporize the entire city.

Focusing on the task that lay before her, Gine clenched her good fist and cracked her knuckles.

"FOUR!"

Internally, Gine was scared. She was willing going to her death by facing Naga like this. But she didn't care. She will not die like a coward, but going down fighting.

To her, It's what Bardock would've done...

"THREE!"

Not caring for stealth anymore, Gine stepped out of the ruined building and into the street. She looked up towards where she felt the three of them hovering high up above. Naga had a hand raised over his head, and with it was a giant bright sphere of yellow energy that was several yards wide. It looked more than powerful enough to destroy the city, for it may destroy a chunk of the planet too.

"TWO!" Naga screamed out, ready to fire the blast with Banno and Onio inching back worriedly. They were well within the blast zone, but Naga didn't seem to mind. He looked too mad with rage to care.

Banno's scouter beeped just as Gine called up to them.

"HEY NAGA!"

The Saiyan squad leader and his goons looked down in puzzlement at the ground as her voice reached them.

"There!" She heard Banno, and saw him pointing at her.

Even from several hundred feet in the air, she could see Naga grinning evilly down at her.

"Ah, way to wait until the last moment to finally show yourself!" He snarled. "Tell me, are you ready to die like the rest of the scum on this rock?!"

Gine didn't answer, and just glared at Naga with daggers. She hoped that her younger self hadn't stopped to watch the spectacle of that planet-destroying ki blast, but she was beyond worrying about that now.

"Too scared to talk, eh? Shoulda figured for a coward who pulls cheap tricks to run!" Naga mocked. "As I said, pathetic to the end like you always were. Weakling."

The mention of those words, weakling and coward, were enough to make Gine's blood start boiling. The words spat at her when her own fellow Saiyans pushed her around while she was unable to defend herself, when she could only watch as the Celnussians she was trying so desperately to save were murdered before her very eyes, and when her seven year old self was being initiated into a lifetime of servitude with a summary execution under threat of death. Now, they were going to be the last words she would ever hear in her mortal life.

They made her feel powerless. They made her feel angry. And that anger was now turning red hot.

It's now or never, she thought. With that, Gine closed her eyes and concentrated.

 _Empty your mind._ She told herself as Popo taught her.

 _Breathe..._

She pushed away everything. The stabbing pain of her broken left arm and ribs, the nauseating feeling of an empty stomach and lost blood from her head wound, the grief at the knowledge she will never see Kakarot ever again, the knowledge that she was about die very soon, and the doubts of whether or not she could have enough strength to fight...

Slowly but surely as it did in her fight against Popo, time slowed down...sounds and sensations faded to murmurs, leaving only her heartbeat... and her own aura... and the heartbeats and aura's of Naga, Banno, Onio, and her younger self off in the distance appeared in her mind's eye...

Soon, her mind was calm and blank... save for one burning emotion.

Naga saw this and laughed, the brothers saw and laughed too at her standing there with her eyes closed. To them, it seemed like she was surrendering to death.

"Well, well. It looks like you've accepted your fate! Good, because now it's time to take out the trash once and for all!"

 _Feel the one thing that brings you righteous anger... something that burns like a fire inside your heart... Don't think. Feel..._ Kami's words echoed through her mind too just as Naga's spiteful words reached her.

His words did nothing to rouse Gine, now that she had reached her meditative state. But Naga's words translated to feeling, in order to keep thoughts from breaking through the barrier she put up in order to focus...

She felt the red hot anger from before, growing hotter and turning into pure hatred.

It was like fire, it burned. It seethed. It...

...Reminded her of helplessness...How angry she was at those who made her feel it...And anger at herself...How she couldn't defend herself from everyone who took advantage of her...How they beat her, ridiculed her, branded her, forced her to do things she never wanted to do...

Naga threw his hand forward and launched the citybusting ki blast.

"DIE!" He screamed, Banno and Onio flew backwards to clear the oncoming explosion.

The ki blast flew right at Gine, but she did not register it. The hatred she felt for that Saiyan from his bile at her was all that was needed for Gine to feel the memories his words triggered...

 ** _"Do it, or I'll kill you alongside them too. Might be better off that way anyways, one less weakling. You are a disgrace and this is your only chance to prove otherwise. So, I'm ordering you one last time:" He raised a hand in her direction. Gine saw it through the blur of her tears and knew he was about to charge a ki blast aimed at her._**

 ** _"Execute them." He demanded slowly._**

 ** _There was nothing she could do now. Despite her grief-wracked state, she knew. She had to do it if she wanted to live. But how could she live with herself? She was about to commit murder. Not only a person, a defenseless mother and child. And the last two survivors of an entire species. It was the final act of genocide._**

 ** _The mother and child looked at her as if expectantly. They knew that she was supposed to kill them, but... they did not look angry at her. Strangely, it was comforting._**

 ** _She couldn't understand their language, but they must have known she did not want to kill them. That she was being forced to. And that there was no escape for them._**

 ** _The mother made a mournful sound directed for Gine, crying in it's alien language. The mother covered the eyes of the child who was panicking and struggling to escape._**

 ** _Reluctantly, Gine raised a shaking hand._**

 ** _"DO IT!" Yelled Naga, a threat more than a command._**

 ** _A ball of white ki emerged in Gine's palm, it hummed louder as she feed it all of the energy she could muster to make their deaths as quick and painless as possible. The Celnussian mother cried out again, this time in what sounded like a plea of mercy in their native language. One last chance to live._**

 ** _But there was no going back now._**

 ** _"I-I- I'm sorry!" Gine choked out._**

 ** _She couldn't look them in eye, and at the last second Gine closed hers shut._**

 _ **And fired.**_

Gine felt the overwhelming despair wash through her like a flood, feeling sick for what she had done. She had the blood of the last of an entire civilization on her hands.

She killed them... because of Naga.

The drowning sadness evaporated, and was replaced with white hot rage.

Naga had made her commit murder. Me made her suffer through a lifetime of abuse, forced to aid in burning countless worlds, spread unimaginable suffering across the galaxy, and destroyed her spirit.

All because of him. She hated him! SHE HATED HIM!

She felt white hot rage burning within her heart. Both her fists, including that of her ruined arm, clenched hard. Raw power soared through her veins again, a white aura enveloped her...

Deep in her subconscious state, she was dreading that it would throw her out of her focus. But it didn't. No, this rage was not blind and all consuming. And she did not scream like a feral animal, letting all that hatful energy out wastefully.

It was contained, all of its energy concentrated. Focused razor sharp. Aimed directly for Naga. For all he stood for, for all he had done, to this world, to many worlds, and to her.

She didn't hear the ki blast getting closer to her, nor did she hear Banno screaming in alarm over his scouter. Nothing mattered. Not even the burning in her arm and ribs.

All she saw was Naga in her mind's eye. His aura was bright and fiery, a violent and evil spirit that was brash, thirsty for her blood, and tainted with the blood of billions of victims from across the galaxy.

And now he was going to pay.

Faster than either of the three Saiyans could blink, Gine shot directly towards the ki blast meant to destroy the city. It shattered like glass into a shower of harmless sparks as she flew right through the blast, and straight at Naga.

His face contorted into a mix of shock and terror when he saw Gine rocketing towards him. He was too dumbstruck to dodge, frozen in place for the split second it took for Gine to reach him.

She drove her fist into his abdomen. With the damage she inflicted in their last battle, Gine's arm went straight through Naga's torso and out his back in a bloody heap.

He let out a agonizing shriek as she took him off on a ride for several miles, doubled over and skewered to her.

Gine drew out her arm from him, and attacked in a flurry as he flew backwards from the momentum. He was too shocked and weakened from the hole in his stomach to defend himself properly, and see moved around him too quickly.

She saw his openings, and went for them. Fast, unforgiving, and with the precision of a surgical scalpel. Driving a punch to the side of his torso, snapping a rib loudly. Plowing a fist into his jaw again, shattering more teeth and biting off chunks of his tongue. A hand chop to his throat, crushing his windpipe. A kick to his lower back, bursting a kidney. A knee to the groin, shattering his pelvis and sending shockwaves of pain throughout his entire body. A punch into his armpit, shattering the bone of his shoulder joint. An elbow to the side of the head, cracking his skul...

The power of her rage and adrenaline gave her the strenght to inflict injury after injury into Naga, slowly breaking him apart and not blinded by red mist. She didn't even feel any pain from her own broken ribs moving or from her broken arm that she was using to punch. In her unconscious mind, Gine could sense that her body was screaming at her that it was about to fail from overexersion, and for aggrivating her own injuries. But she paid no mind to her own body's failing, concentrated entirely on Naga.

She heard him screaming in pain, and even begging for mercy. Gine was surprised, even in her enraged state. But it only fueled her rage to make him hurt more. To make him feel as powerless as he made her feel. To make him suffer like all those he had slaughtered before this world.

Gine phased behind him, cocked a leg back and kicked Naga sharply in the middle of his back, sheering his spinal cord. He wailed helplessly as he plowed through rows of skyscrapers, they collapsed from the impact of his body through their ruined frames.

She caught up to Naga at hypersonic speed, grabbed his dislocated arm and spun him around. They spun at dizzying speed, creating a blast of wind away from them in a cyclonic fashion.

With Naga's arm dislocated from his shoulder, and the bones shattered at the joint, all that held his arm to his body was the flesh. It stretched, and tore as Gine spun faster and faster. Until finally, Naga was ripped from his own arm, and thrown high into the sky.

Gine stopped spinning, and discarded Naga's severed arm. She watched him screaming and tumbling end over end as he was flew higher into the stratosphere.

She had humbled, beaten, and broken Naga. By her estimates of the damage she dealt to him, he was probably weaker than she normally was.

Now to finish him off, and she knew just the attack to use. She had never used it before, but had seen it plenty of times to know how to utilize it. Plus it seemed fitting.

Gine raised both hands in the air, her brain not registering that her left arm was on the verge of collapsing from no skeletal support. She cupped her hands, aiming at Naga. All of her rage and every drop of ki was poured into her fingertips.

"KAAAAAA... MEEEEEE..."

She said the incantation, her voice amplified by her ki despite one of her lungs partially deflated. A white-hot blue sphere of energy formed in her joined palms. As hot as her hatred for Naga.

"HAAAAAA... MEEEEEE..."

Images flashed through Gine's mind. Of her younger self being forced to kill under Naga's boot. Of the Celnussians laying dead before her, killed by Naga's hand. Of the two decades of suffering inflicted on her from him, from Banno and Onio, and from every Saiyan on planet Vegeta. Of her every doubt about her worth. And of Young Gine...

This was for herself.

 **"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"**

Gine fired. A pillar of blue and white light rose into the sky, it was so bright it outshone the sun. Naga screamed in despair as the beam engulfed him, and slowly vaporized the Saiyan squad leader out of existence.

When the light and smoke faded, all was calm again. Gine hovered there with her arms still posed skyward, but Naga was no more.

She did it...

Before Gine could celebrate her victory, she stiffened. Her rage evaporated away, and with it, all of the power flowing through her. The white aura dissipated, and she fell out of her meditative state.

All of the pain that Gine's brain had blocked from feeling suddenly hit her, their intensity having increased ten-fold from being ignored before.

So powerful and overwhelming it was, that Gine fainted. Her unconscious body fell from high in the air, plummeting to the ruined streets of the megacity below.

She hit the ground hard, creating a shallow crater and flinging up chunks of asphalt and concrete everywhere. And laid splayed out in the crater for a long while...

...

 _Wake up, dammit! WAKE UP!_

Gine's voice rang inside her own head. But her mind and her body were unresponsive...

But then she stirred, and grimaced sharply. Something burning and aching woke her up. Her eyes fluttered, her fogged over eyes looked drearily through slits. As she came to, all the pain she felt earlier returned in full force. She may have passed out again, for she opened her eyes to see the sun at a different angle.

Gine couldn't focus on anything, her mind in a haze of pure exhaustion. She didn't know how long she laid in the crater, but her mind was slowly brought back into reality when images flashed through her mind of the final battle with Naga. And how she had disintegrated him with her son's signature attack.

She had done it. She had killed the main tormentor of her life.

As she regained more of her consciousness and senses, Gine still didn't move from where she lay. Soaking in what she had done. She knew deep down that the real Naga most likely died on planet Vegeta when Frieza destroyed it. But she dearly wished he meet his end this way. It was so cathartic...

Gine tried to force her extremities to move, but she suddenly spasmed and let out a weak scream.

It hurts. By the gods, it hurt so bad!

It was the worst full body Charlie-horse she could every imagine. Like every muscle was bursting, and tearing themselves from her skeleton. Every bone themselves felt brittle and could shatter at any moment. But all of that was nothing compared to her arm and her ribs.

Her broken left arm was now swollen to twice it's size. The bones in it were horribly misaligned from her using it for punching still, and the hand now almost bend at an unnatural right angle.

The entire left side of her body felt as if it was being dissolved with acid. The broken rib now low lodged into her lung, collapsing it and filling it with blood that she noticed was pooling in the back of her throat. She rolled her head sideways and coughed it out, it was an alarmingly large amount and it was excruciating with every hack that stung her insides.

She also felt soooo tired. Gine was conscious again, but only barely. The adrenaline rush from the battle was gone, that rage boost had drained most of her energy, and what little she had left in her body was used for that final attack. And by now she had lost a lot of blood, her life force was dangerously low.

Still... what a way to go. Gine thought to herself.

A few more minutes passed, and as the full body pain subsided to a somewhat tolerable level, she rolled onto her right side. Gine struggled against the fatigue and agony with calm vigor to prop herself up, and wondered what she would do next...

Just then, Banno and Onio appeared off to the side, hovering just a few feet away.

She had entirely forgotten about them during her battle. But instead of feeling scared, Gine just regarded them curiously as if she had found a strange insect. It must have been from the blood loss.

They saw her, and their eyes nearly bulged with terror at seeing that she was still alive.

Gine couldn't fight them. She had no ki left in her, and lost so much blood, it was an effort to stay awake. She wouldn't stand a chance. But she still wasn't going to just lay down and die in front of them. No matter how much she thought she deserved a rest.

Using the last of her reserves of physical strength, she uncoiled her wobbly legs beneath her and propped up her upper body with her arm, trying to stand.

The fat brother Saiyans gasped. Then, when Gine was not even fully standing, Onio just turned around and sped away.

Both Gine and Banno stared at where Onio fled off to slack jawed. Such an action wasn't just cowardice, it was social suicide in Saiyan culture. They would never let him live it down for the rest of his life that he just up and ran.

Gine scoffed to herself. To think that she used to be afraid of them. But Banno remained, and looked back at Gine. He looked afraid of her, but contemplative.

All Gine could do was stare him down. Maybe she might win and scare him off too? But she started coughing. As she did, blood started dripping out of her mouth.

She didn't have much time left. But at least it didn't hurt to cough anymore. That itself however, worried her more. And as if on cue, her legs couldn't support her weight, and she fell to her knees. Her upper body fell forward, her back muscles too sore hold her upright as well.

Banno eyed her cautiously, and hopefully that she was indeed helpless.

Still determined to do something to at least scare him, Gine tried to raise her good arm as if to fire a blast at him. But her arm trembled and only budged an inch before it fell limply to the ground again. Her body had finally given out.

 _Well... shit._ She though.

Banno half-laughed/half-cried in relief to himself. He would never admit that he was scared witless of what she could do, and that he was close to turning tail and running like his brother.

"Looks like this is the end of the line for ya, runt!" He mocked at her. Gine just stared at him blankly, feeling lethargy starting to overtake her.

There was nothing more she could do. Bleeding profusely and internally, broken with every drop of energy spent, and with no escape. In the end, she still lost...

Wait. No... not entirely beaten.

She killed Naga.

For the very first time in Gine's life, she took on someone much more powerful than herself. And she won! AND she ended up being far stronger than him even if it was for a brief moment. On top of besting him by using only her wits and training from Earth. Just as Kami and Popo and Kakarot said they could. She fought him like a true warrior, as Bardock would... She sorely wished he could see this. But she will see him soon, no doubt. And Raditz...

And as sad as it made her that she failed to save the Celnussians, her younger self was right that she at least tried to undo a wrong. And that was what mattered anyway...

Banno triumphantly lumbered up to her as if he owned the ground he walked on. It seemed like he got his wish afterall to finish Gine off. The fallen female Saiyan didn't react, and just sat there reminiscing in her final moments.

The words "worthless weakling" were words that had been used to define her by almost everyone she ever worked with throughout her life. In a way they were true. She was the weakest Saiyan born in a thousand years, and for that she amounted to nothing. Not on the battlefield and not a home, save for the one man who saw anything redeemable within her. But despite that companionship of passion, Bardock was a warrior first and foremost, and he saw that she was the epitome of outcasts.

And now she was going to die like one: executed like the defenseless inhabitants they were conquering.

But, she was okay with it.

She defeated Naga, made him hurt for the pain he caused, proved to everyone especially herself that she wasn't garbage. That she truly could improve, and defeat evil. Even if it was only once, but it felt damn good.

"Time to die, scum." Banno said coldly. He raised a hand to her face and to charge a ki blast. Her vision started to narrow into a dark tunnel. At least the pain didn't hurt anymore. She was also getting sleepy, and wondered curiously if she could bleed to death before he can kill her himself.

Gine looked up, trying to stay awake. Then something in the distance caught her eye.

Through the haze in her vision, she saw a contrail rising into the atmosphere. An attack pod, flying out of where they landed. It was too far for Onio to make it from here at his top speed.

She reached out with her senses, and tears of joy streaked down her cheeks as she felt Young Gine aboard it.

"Any last words?" Banno asked. A bright yellow sphere of deadly ki formed in his open palm. But Gine didn't pay him any mind. She watched as the attack pod cleared above the rings of Xai Celnussia IV, and disappeared in a flash as it rocketed away at lightspeed to freedom among the stars.

"Never give up..." She whispered.

"Huh?"

Gine chuckled, spitting up blood. "I said: Never give up."

Banno gave her a look of mixed emotions. He detested her for all that she was as a weakling, and for killing their commander as a traitor... but, she somehow defied all odds and beat him. He didn't know how or why, but he felt a flicker of respect for Gine. That she was going down fighting, even in her last moments her words embodied that warrior spirit. _That_ was something any proud Saiyan could take with them to the grave, unlike himself who was briefly considering running away.

But that thought left him uncomfortable and he shook that feeling off.

"Whatever." He grunted out, as if to show that he disregarded what he heard. Gine didn't mind, and looked up at her executioner with a satisfied smirk.

It felt so weird that her life would end where a path for her was set after it begun. But she prevented her counterpart from committing an act that set her down a lifetime of nihilism and pain that was broken by a chance encounter with a man she may never had met unless she was so lucky. And from him, spawned two sons. One of which would have to go on to be the defender of the only planet she ever called home. And there was no one better for it.

As for Young Gine? Who knew, perhaps in this little pocket universe if it kept going without her, she may grow up to become just like Kakarot. Strong, brave, and a defender of what she believed. The possibilities for her were endless.

And Gine was happy. Her only regret was that she would never get to say goodbye to Kakarot. Her little boy that gave her a purpose in her new life, that made living worthwhile, and whom she will never get to watch grow up. But the important thing was that he _will_ grow up.

Bardock... Raditz... Gohan... Then Kakarot's smiling face was the last thing that flashed through Son Gine's mind as Banno fired the blast at her.

Bright, blinding light enveloped her. She felt searing heat...

* * *

Gine screamed, her eyes opened with a jolt.

She found herself facing a white wall, hyperventilating. She wheeled around and gasped, seeing that she was standing in a round room of ticking grandfather clocks, a massive bronze pendulum swinging slowly in the middle of the space. It took her a moment to realize that this was the Pendulum Room on the Lookout, back on Earth.

What the? Her mind reeled. _Didn't I just die?!_

The memory of Banno vaporizing her was still fresh in her mind. As well as her last thoughts and physical sensations. She frantically checked over herself. Her arm was not broken, nor were her ribs. Feeling her whole body, she didn't have any injury she suffered at the hands of Naga. But she still remembered _everything_ , including the pain.

Questions shot through her mind at a rapid fire rate. She was indeed alive. But how? Did she experience dying without actually dying for real? Was any of what she saw real?

The sound of the marble walls sliding open made her tense up, and spun around in her defensive stance.

"MOM!" A blur of orange and black ran up to her, wrapping himself around her waist.

"K-Kakarot?" She stuttered out, unable to believe her eyes.

Gine wasn't sure if she was dreaming or not. It felt like she was really here back on Earth, in the present as if nothing had happened. But she was just on Xai Celnussia IV. Wasn't she?

Her son looked up at her with large, worried eyes. "Are you alright? Kami sensed that you were in there for a long time, and that you were killed!"

The feeling of her son hugging and Kami's name settled it for her that yes, she was indeed back at the Lookout and not dreaming.

At first, Gine just stood there in a state of shock, staring down at her son. She found herself mesmerized by his wild palm tree-esque hair, and the large innocent eyes that were the last thing she saw before Banno killed her...

Then, Gine dropped to her knees and clutched Kakarot with all of her might. She wept hard onto his shoulder.

"Oh, Kakarot! I love you so much!" She wailed.

Kakarot was as surprised at her outburst as he was worried at how much she was suffocating him with her iron grip.

"Uh, I love you too, Mom." He said nervously, trying to pull away her arms around his neck to ease the choking.

Through her sobs, Gine hiccupped out. "I thought I would never see you again!" She still didn't let go of him, and rocked them both back and forth.

Kakarot forgot his discomfort and immediately looked at his mother in grave concern. "W-what happened?"

Gine didn't answer for a few long moments, letting out all of her joy and sorrow at once.

"Mom, what happened?!" He asked again, shriller this time.

Gine shook her head, her cries subsiding. "Oh sweetheart..."

She let go of her son at last. Gine sniffled and wiped away her tears as she regarded Kakarot as if seeing him for the first time again.

"I..." she began but had trouble continuing. She didn't know where to start, or how to explain to her son what everything she felt on that strange experience meant to her.

"I was..." Gine tried again to say what she meant to, but still couldn't. Then she tried a third time...

"I was in a bad place from when I was very young. I saw so many bad things that I used to... be part of."

Kakarot looked thoughtfully at her for a moment, "You mean, the conquering stuff that Saiyans used to do for Frieza?" He said tactfully.

Gine nodded, then went on. "I saw myself back there..." She said in a distant voice, her eyes trailing to the clock she had originally fallen through into the past.

"From when I was just a little girl, fighting on a distant planet where I was forced to do something terrible..." She said with a shaky voice, trying not to get too emotional again in front of her son at the thought of the Celnussians. But her eyes moistened and her throat constricted.

Kakarot listened intently. He had never known his mother to talk openly and in detail of the things she had done in her life. He only heard bits and pieces from the occasional eavesdropping on her late night conversations with Grandpa Gohan.

But that tidbit of his mother being forced to do something like some slave made Kakarot's tail fray in anger. "Forced? By who?"

Gine looked at her son, and her sadness gave way to rage. "By an evil Saiyan, named Naga. He forced me to... to kill."

Kakarot inhaled sharply, then held his mother's hands and squeezed them as if protect her. The subtle action helped prevent her from crying, and Gine looked at her son gratefully. Then remembered something even better feeling than that.

"But I didn't do it this time. I fought him, and I beat him." She said with a smile.

Kakarot's face lit up. "Really? Wow! Was he really strong?"

Gine shook her head internally. No matter the harrowing journey for her own psyche, her son would always be drawn to how strong the enemy she fought was. But she grinned regardless, for it truly was an accomplishment. And it was so good to be back with the son she knew and loved.

"He was, actually. Almost five times as much as I was."

"What?!" The look of amazement that Kakarot always gave her for her strength was replaced with sheer incredulity. The idea that he could fight someone twice or three times as strong was extremely rare here on Earth, and the times he did he almost died. But five times...

He looked at his mother as if she was a mystical figure, his sense of awe in her totally renewed.

"Mom, that's amazing! How did you do it?!" He asked excitedly. Gine scratched the back of her head bashfully, the same way her son would.

"Well I... guess I got lucky. He didn't fight really well."

"But, how did you manage to beat him with that wide of a power gap?" He then asked.

Gine looked at her feet thoughtfully, she wasn't expecting that question. But Kakarot was thorough in studying martial arts, and wanted to learn all the answers.

She then looked back up at her son. "I did what Kami told me to do when we were meditating. I focused really hard, and I got angry. Then..."

She remembered the power of the rage flowing through her when she unleashed herself on Naga. How she viciously decimated him with every blow, and destroyed him in the end. And it was all from power hidden within her somewhere...

It was so alien to her that she was had such strenght, that she could use it to bring a world of pain to someone even stronger than herself. The efficacy of her attacks and the boost of power was so pronounced, it felt scary.

"And then what?" Kakarot asked, leading her to finish her story.

Gine looked serious at him. "I was able to harness the hidden power that Kami told me about."

"Whoa..." Kakarot gasped, then lept in a cheer. "Yeah! See? I told you that you could do it!"

Gine smiled to herself. Despite how unbelievable it was to herself that she had such incredible strenght, it felt good that she had proven to herself that she was not a worthless fighter after all.

"Yeah... I guess you're right, sweetheart." She said as she ruffled her son's hair happily.

"I'm glad to hear that too, Gine." Came Kami's voice. Gine looked over to see him standing at the entrance with Mr. Popo by his side.

She regarded Kami for a long moment, not moving or saying anything.

"Kami..." She said softly, tears falling down her eyes. Not just for the joy of being alive, or gratitude for the invaluable revelations he had shown her, but also out of fury. _He_ put her through all that...

Kami could sense the emotional turmoil that Gine was in, and addressed her gently.

"I understand if you are angry at me, Gine. I neglected to tell you that death in your temporal vision would not actually mean you would perish in the real world. And for that, I sincerely apologize for putting you through such anguish without your consent." He bowed to her respectfully,.

The gesture seemed like a pitiful consolation to Gine, and she was half-tempted to throttle Kami for tricking her into such a traumatic experience. But her anger at the Namekian subsided when she thought of everything that happened, and what she had learned...

"But please know that I had to withhold the nature of your trial in order for you to see what you needed to see for yourself." He said as he entered the room, the clanking of his staff echoing throughout the room.

"It was a demonstration meant to show you that physical strength alone is not the universal measurement of worth in a warrior. That with just the training that you have received during your time here on Earth, your combat capabilities have far exceeded those of your former Saiyan comrades."

"Oh wow! That's amazing, Mom!" Kakarot said happily up to her.

Gine thought the first battle with Naga, how she outmaneuvered him at every turn. Then of their second battle which she beat him into the ground, and took on two other Saiyans. And finally she remembered their third fight, where she destroyed him...

"Yeah... I guess it was." She repeated to herself in as much amazement.

Who would have thought that the might of the Saiyan race could mostly have been doped by anyone who knew the basics of martial arts? She also thought of a morbidly curious idea that if every civilization the Saiyans conquered had fought like her and Kakarot, the Saiyans would have never taken over more than their own home planet. They truly were nothing but brutes. And that's not even including the matter of her hidden power...

The memory of her little argument with Kami from earlier resurfaced. How he kept telling her that she had a power she wasn't aware of, and how ridiculous she thought it was for Kami to say that meditation of all things would bring out something that came to her from rage.

Oh boy, was she proven wrong... "I should be thanking you, Kami." Said Gine. "For a lot of things today. But.. Most of all: for showing me that meditating is more than just sitting around with my eyes closed afterall."

Kami didn't laugh at the joke, but saw what she meant and appreciated that she had unlocked what he had already saw in her. "Ah, so you harnessed your rage with the meditation technique I taught you?"

"Yep." She nodded.

"Excellent." He smiled. "How did it work out for you?"

"It was..." Gine thought for a long moment. The feelings of invincibility, how she wanted to destroy Naga, and how the world around her faded were fresh in her mind as well. It was a taste of power that Gine didn't know how to describe...

"...overwhelming, I would say." Gine answered. It was as close as to what she felt about as she could get. In a way it was. She knew now for sure that she was not weak at all. More than that, she had a power that was so fierce and violent that it was terrifying to think of. Like, what if she lost herself to it entirely? Like she almost did against her own son when she got angry at Baba?

Kami hummed in understanding. "I see... Well it does bring out the raw power from any sentient being who concentrates it from anger. And you Gine, have a _tremendous_ amount of power lying dormant within you. This trial was also to show that you are far stronger than you realize, and that you can tap into that power when you channeled your rage."

"Now that you grasped how it works, I could teach you how to refine it safely with enough practice and discipline. With it, you would be a force to be reckoned with." He offered.

She stood there speechless. For someone like her to experience firsthand going from a weakling to an unstoppable force was damn near impossible to wrap her head around. The fact that she defeated Naga at all was still unbelievable to her. Now with Kami's offer to keep up her training to help her bring out that power, to make her stronger than ever before and to a level she couldn't imagine, it was unthinkable. Gine wondered if she could even handle that power, not being used to having it her whole life.

But, as she has learned over and over again, the world was full of surprises. If she could have the strength and patience to giving meditation training a chance, who knew what she could accomplish... _the strength to never feel powerless again,_ she thought.

A smile spread across her face. "I think I would like that very much."

"Alright, Mom! Now we can get some real training in!"

"Looks like it, son." Gine replied.

"Wow, I still can't get over it. You took on three much more powerful Saiyans when you just got angry!" Kakarot exclaimed. "Guess, I'm gonna have to watch out if you ever get mad at me again!"

She laughed heartedly with him at his little joke.

"I just wish I was there with Kami to see it!" Her son mentioned.

Gine suddenly looked to Kami. "Wait, you saw everything?!"

"Just me and Mr. Popo. Kakarot here, was barred from the viewing glass since only myself can witness my student's spirit journey to evaluate their progress." The Namekian acknowledged.

She was about to speak in indignant protest over how they could just watch her go through so much personal torment...

"You were safe, Gine." He said reassuringly, sensing her unease. "Again, I'm sorry that I had put you in that position to face something that was very personal to you. But as a teacher of martial arts and a Guardian, sometimes a student must confront things that weigh their souls down the most if they are to master themselves."

Gine still felt angry, but didn't say anything more. Kami was right, he was a teacher to afterall, and was evaluating her as he would any other student. And she couldn't be too mad, she didn't really get killed. It was nothing more than a simulation, not unlike some training facilities planet Vegeta used to have...

"Yeah... I guess you're right about that." She conceded. "But I lost the fight thought." Gine reluctantly said, even if she thought that they already knew. She wondered if she failed the whole trial for that little detail.

"Whether you defeated all of the Saiyans or not was not the goal of your quest. It was a test of the spirit to show your true strength, and you showed incredible bravery against impossible odds in your battle against the Saiyans." Kami said genuinely.

Gine looked up the Guardian of the Earth incredulously. "I did?"

He nodded. "That's right. You stood up against Naga even when you knew he was far stronger than you, because you would not let him slaughter the defenseless inhabitants. You protected them even when you were cornered, you faced death without fear, and even sacrificed yourself to allow your past counterpart to escape. You have shown that you have true strength by not giving up."

Kakarot felt pride swell up within his heart after hearing how selflessly his mother fought, and Gine felt a great sense of humility wash over her.

"You fought with all your heart for what you believed in was right: to never give up on protecting those you cared about. That, is one's true strength." Said Kami.

Tears came to Gine's eyes. "Thank you." She whispered. The Guardian regarded her with a great amount of respect.

"I still hope you can forgive me for omitting that you couldn't die. I didn't mean to frighten you so much, though it wouldn't be much of a learning experience if there wasn't any real danger." He said, breaking the moment.

Gine chuckled lightly. "No, I suppose not."

She then thought of something. "Say, Kami, everything that happened back there was all part of a vision, right? That it would have ended as soon as I was out of it?"

"Correct." Said Kami.

"Oh. I see." Gine said distantly. Her thoughts drifted back to her younger self, how she saw her escaping Xai Celnussia IV on the attack pod...

"Why? You want to know what would have happened if your counterpart in that vision lived on?" He asked out of the blue.

Gine was taken aback on how he could guess what she was thinking, but nodded.

Kami walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "The vision is only temporary as long as you were inside of it. But if it played out long enough, she would have found her way to Earth, sought out the martial arts masters of this world, and become stronger as she promised to..."

A rush of emotions filled Gine's heart. Even if that version of Young Gine wasn't real, a tiny part of her wished that she was. She was the Gine that she could have been if she lived a life without experiencing things that no child should ever have to witness. Free from fear and oppression, to live as she pleased, and grew stronger than she could ever dream of...

"You can get stronger too, Gine." Kami said to her. "That version of you and the you right here are one and the same. You both have the same potential and willpower to train and become the greatest martial artists in existence. And you can become strong, just like her..."

A tear came to her eye. For the longest time, she had never believed she would hear those words directed at her truthfully. And she wouldn't have believed them even if they were truthful...

But not this time.

The transformative experience within her vision, everything against the Saiyan caste system finally setting in, and finally having seen the proof of her hidden strength, something shifted inside Gine. Like a river flowing uphill, her perspective of her place in the world was now changed forever.

She was not just the Saiyan woman born with the lowest power level before her second son. She had the potential to be much, much more...

 _Everyone has the potential to be great if they set their minds to it._ Gohan's words went through her mind.

It finally dawned on her that she had never truly appreciated his advise. That she had the power all along to mold herself into something better, to become the best fighter she could be. But she couldn't see it since the doubts inflicted upon her over the years held her back, that Saiyan society dictated her destiny for her. And because of it, she was too scared to even try to learn and grow...

Not anymore. Now she was free from those self-imposed shackles. She can grow, train with her master and her son.

She _can_ get stronger.

"I will." Gine said with absoluteness.

Kakarot hugged her leg, and looked at her with a rare glimpse of mutual understanding. She now understood that look of his. It was his eagerness for a good fight and challenge up ahead. Now she was feeling it too... Her Saiyan blood was now flowing.

"Well, for starters, would you feel up to giving meditation another try?" Kami offered.

Gine turned to him enthusiastically. "Sure thing!"

Kami smiled widely. "Very well then."

A loud grumble filled the Pendulum Room, startling everyone except Gine who turned red with embarrassment.

"Uh, how about we eat first?" She asked shyly. Everyone laughed at that, and agreed.

They all filed out of the Pendulum Room, on the way outside Gine scooped up Kakarot and hugged him like there was no tomorrow.

Just before she left the room, Gine took one last glimpse of the clock she had fallen through. And she thought of her younger self...

 _"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are weak. You are strong, and you CAN get stronger if you train hard and never, ever give up. Will you do that for me?"_

I promise, she mentally said to herself before exiting down the hall.

...

After a hearty meal together, mother and son resumed their training again. They spent the remainder of the day with Kami, learning the power of meditation and energy channeling. They still made little progress, but Gine was fine with that. They had three years to master this.

She cried hard later that night, reliving the events of the Pendulum Room in her dreams. But her crying was not in sorrow for all of her regrets anymore, but in joy. Joy that Gine felt for being truly free for the first time in her life.

Despite how difficult it was, Gine thanked Kami for putting her in that room. For in such a short period of time it changed everything she believed in.

Hard work and willpower was what really mattered, not strength and destiny... That she _can_ forgive herself for the things she has done... And that no matter what, no matter the obstacles, she will never give up, nor stop fighting for what was right, or stop bettering herself.

And she resolved to do just that.

From that day forward, Gine was not the same person as she was before she entered that round room of clocks. Now, she was a Saiyan woman who was fully dedicated to learn everything each of the inhabitants of the Lookout had to offer, and to become stronger than ever before.

She trained herself hard and pushed her son to his limits in every sparring match they had. She was far stronger than he was, but she had a lot to learn from him. So he taught her the finer points of advanced combat and special techniques, and she in return fought him to near death to make him stronger.

Kakarot himself was used to his mother's overprotectiveness that grew ever since he first left home with Bulma, and had no issue with the extra attentiveness she had for him after her spirit quest. In fact, he welcomed it. For he knew his mother was different now... someone who wanted a good fight as much as he did. He had never been happier, and neither had she.

...

Mother and son squared off with each other on the tiled grounds of the Lookout. Both of their gis were tattered and both combatants were badly bruised, but neither of them were concerned. They were just warming up, and had a spring in their respective fighting stances.

"Are you ready, Mom?" Kakarot asked excitedly. He was getting taller every day, his adult growth spurt in full effect. It won't be long until he was taller than her, and as strong.

Gine knew this, but was counting on it. Soon she will have a real challenge in fighting him, one she had been aching for her.

She grinned at her son with a smirk, having never been more excited for a fight in her life."You betchya, son! Now show me what you got!"

Gine and Kakarot charged at each other and clashed with a force that shook the grounds. The two Saiyans engaged in battle above the clouds, day in and day out, waiting for the next stage of training from Kami...

* * *

 **A/N: There we go! A complete emotional journey for Gine! Having faced the past so she can acknowledge what she is, and can go forward to build a future! Next chapter is a time jump forward, so yay!**

 **Sorry that it was a brick, and that the training seemed to take a while especially since the Pendulum Room was from a filler episode, but I saw it as an opportunity for some character building. And I hope it pays off, since it could have more ramifications further down the timeline.**

 **Thank you everyone for your words of encouragement and your truthful reviews about my work, be it appraising or critical. It helped me see how my story is doing and how I could make changes if I needed to. And for that, thank you so much!**

 **See you in the next chapter!**


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